Biology - Enzymes

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Enzymes

Starch, Protein and fats are large, insoluble food molecules

Enzymes needed to break down the chains to small soluble molecules

Starch is broken down into glucose by the use of carbohydrase

Protein is broken down into amino acids by using protease

Fat is broken down into fatty acids by using lipase

Enzymes = proteins that are made up of long chains of amino acids. They are folded to specific shapes that allow other molecules to fit into it. These are called substrates.

Enzyme and the substrate fit together like a lock and key - enzyme have a active site.

Enzymes are biological catalyst. They speed up reactions but are not used up in the reaction.

Activity is affected by the temperature and the pH, with each enzyme having optimum conditions - 7 for pH (neutral) and 37 degrees (body temperature)