Maintaining a Balance: Dot point 1

Maintaining a Balance: Dot point 1

1. 1.1: Identify the role of enzymes in metabolism, describe their chemical composition and use a simple model to describe their specificity on substrates

   • Role: Enzymes are biological catalysts whose function is to speed up (or slow down) chemical reactions (metabolism). To do this they lower the the activation energy required to start the reaction which is done by bringing specific molecules together, rather than relying on them colliding randomly.
   • Chemical composition: They are globular proteins, that is they have long chains of amino acids that have been folded into a specific shape
   • Lock and Key model
     • Enzyme specificity examples
       • Rennin acts on milk

2. 1.2:Identify the pH as a way of describing the acidity of a substance