Factors affecting enzymatic reaction

Factors affecting Enzymatic reaction

a)      Concentration of enzyme

b)      Substrate concentration

c)      pH

d)     Temperature

a)      Concentration of enzymes

·         The rate of an enzyme- catalysed reaction is proportional to the concentration of the enzyme.

·         The higher the enzyme concentration, the faster will be the reaction rate for a certain period.

b)      Substrate concentration

·         For a given amount of enzyme, the rate of an enzyme controlled reaction increases with an increases in substrate concentration up to a certain point.

·         With a fixed enzyme concentration an increase of substrate will result at first in a very rapid rise in velocity or reaction rate.

·         At lo substrate concentration the active sites on the enzyme are noy saturated by the substrate and thus enzyme rate varies with substrate concentration.

·         As the substrate concentration is increased more and more active site come into play. The more substrate molecule there are, the greater will be the chances of substrate and enzyme molecules colliding in the correct manner. The ate of reaction continues to increases.

·         When substrate concentration is high enough, the enzymes becomes saturated with substrate. At this point, all the active sites in all enzyme molecules are engaged.

·         When all active sites are being used, increasing the substrate concentration further cannot increase the rate of reaction. At this point the amount of enzyme is the limiting factor. This plateau in the graph which indicates that when the substrate concentration reaches a certain level the system becomes saturated and all the enzymes molecule are working at full capacity.

·         The only way to increase the rate of the reaction is to increase the concentration of the enzyme.