What factors affect the rate at which an enzyme works?

Answer 1

Very basically: * specificity - the better 'fit' the substrate, the higher the rate of catalysis. * temperature - higher temp = more kinetic energy = faster eaction. However, too high and the enzyme becomes irreversibly denatured and will not work at all. (denatured = the folding of the peptide chains are disrupted, meaning that the shape changes and the substrates no longer fit). The temperature at which the reaction occurs at the fastest rate is called the optimum temperature. * pH - enzymes have specific pH that they work best at (the optimum/optimal pH), as pH can also affect the bonds holding the tertiary structure together (especially ionic bonds), denaturing the enzyme. * concentration of enzyme and substrate - rate of reaction is proportional to the enzyme/substrate concentration. However, at a given enzyme concentration, substrate conc is proprtional to rate up to a point when the enzyme becomes saturated and the rate remains constant. * cofactors/coenzymes - some enzymes require interaction with other molecules to show full catalytic activity. * inhibitors - the presence of an inhibitor lowers the rate of catalysis. There are competitive, uncompetitive, non-competitive and mixed inhibitors, they can bind reversibly or irreversibly, at the active site or an allosteric site... That's a very simple, school textbook answer (and I may have forgotten a factor?). For more detail, any biochemistry textbook should be able to help.

Answer 2

aside from pH and temperature,
another factors include:
Concentration of the substrate (less substrate, less activity)
Concentration of the enzyme (less enzyme, less activity)
Presence of Inhibitors
Presence/Concentration of Coenzymes
Rate of Enzyme production (less production, less activity)

Answer 3

i had to do this for my science homework in year 10 and carrots effect how an enzyme works , this may sound incorrect thats what i thought when my niology teacher told me but ask your teacher and they will tell you it's correct

Answer 4

(I studied enzyme kinetics about 20 years ago, so this will definitely not be a full list.) Most enzymes are proteins, so anything that influences their shape has an effect on the speed of the catalyzed reaction. Proteins are very sensitive to factors of the environment, such as temperature, pH, ion concentrations - all these can affect the rate. Then there are other factors, such as substrate and product concentration, presence or absence of coenzymes, presence or absence of inhibitors and - for the lack of a better expression - the inherent potential rate of the enzyme. There are a number of different models describing how enzymes work, all of which rely heavily of higher mathematics.

Answer 5

The temperature of the enzyme, the pH of the solution it is in, and the ratio of reactants to enzymes.

Answer 6

temperature, pH, concentration, inhibitors and activators