SELF-LEARNING MATERIAL

GENERAL BIOLOGY 1 – GRADE 12 STEM

First Quarter - Week 7

MELCs/OBJECTIVE/S:
 Describe the components of an enzyme
 Identify the different types of enzymes
Name of Learner: __________________________________ Date: _______________
Grade & Section: ________________________________________

Prayer
Lord true source of light and wisdom; give me a keen sense of understanding, a
retentive memory and the capacity to grasp things correctly. Grant me the grace to
be accurate in my expositions and the skills to express myself with thoroughness
and clarity. Be with me at the start of my work, guide its progress and bring it to
completion. Grant these through Christ, our Lord. Amen

A. Preparatory Activities
Settling down: Reminders before doing this SLM
 Do your work diligently and refrain from doing other stuffs while doing this SLM.
 Manage your time while working; follow your class schedule.
 Review your answers before submission.
 Be on time on submitting your SLM.
 Keep an open line for communication, message or call your subject teacher for questions,
clarifications and concerns to be addressed.

B. Developmental Activities
What are enzymes and what do they do in our bodies? Enzymes are basically proteins
that are produced by living organisms to bring about certain metabolic and biochemical reactions
in the body. They are biological catalysts that speed up reactions inside the body. Let’s find out
more about them.
What is the Structure of Enzymes?
Enzymes, as mentioned above, are biological catalysts. While they hasten or speed up a
process, they are actually providing an alternative pathway for the process. But, in the process,
the structure or composition of the enzymes remain unaltered.
Enzymes are actually made up of 1000s of amino acids that are linked in a  specific way to
form different enzymes. The enzyme chains fold over to form unique shapes and it is these
shapes that provide the enzyme with its characteristic chemical potential. Most enzymes also
contain a non-protein component known as the co-factor.  

Types of Enzymes:
The biochemical reactions occurring in the body are basically of 6 types and the enzymes
that bring about these reactions are named accordingly:
 Oxidoreductases: These enzymes bring about oxidation and reduction reactions and hence
are called oxidoreductases. In these reactions, electrons in the form of hydride ions
or hydrogen atoms are transferred. When a substrate is being oxidized, these enzymes act
as the hydrogen donor. These enzymes are called dehydrogenases or reductases. When the
oxygen atom is the acceptor, these enzymes are called oxidases.
 Transferases: These enzymes are responsible for transferring functional groups from one
molecule to another. Example: alanine aminotransferase which shuffles the alpha‐amino
group between alanine and aspartate etc. Some transferases also transfer phosphate groups
between ATP and other compounds, sugar residues to form disaccharides such as
hexokinase in glycolysis.

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  Hydrolases: These enzymes catalyze reactions that involve the process of hydrolysis. They
break single bonds by adding water. Some hydrolases function as digestive enzymes
because they break the peptide bonds in proteins. Hydrolases can also be a type of
transferases as they transfer the water molecule from one compound to another. Example:
Glucose-6-phosphatase that removes the phosphate group from glucose-6-phosphate,
leaving glucose and H3PO4.
 Lyases:  These enzymes catalyze reactions where functional groups are added to break
double bonds in molecules or where double bonds are formed by the removal of functional
groups. Example: Pyruvate decarboxylase is a lyase that removes CO2 from pyruvate. Other
examples include deaminases and dehydratases.
 Isomerases: These enzymes catalyze the reactions where a functional group is moved to
another position within the same molecule such that the resulting molecule is actually an
isomer of the earlier molecule. Example: triosephosphate, isomerase and phosphoglucose
isomerase for converting glucose 6-phosphate to fructose 6-phosphate.
 Ligases: These enzymes perform a function that is opposite to that of the hydrolases. Where
hydrolases break bonds by adding water, ligases form bonds by removal of the water
component. There are different subclasses of ligases which involve the synthesis of ATP.

How do enzymes work?

For any reaction to occur in the universe, there is an energy requirement. In cases where
there is no activation energy provided, a catalyst plays an important role to reduce the activation
energy and carried forward the reaction. This works in animals and plants as well. Enzymes help
reduce the activation energy of the complex molecules in the reaction.  The following steps simplify
how an enzyme works to speed up a reaction:

Step 1: Each enzyme has an ‘active site’ which is where one of the substrate molecules can bind
to. Thus, an enzyme- substrate complex is formed.

Step 2: This enzyme-substrate molecule now reacts with the second substrate to form the product
and the enzyme is liberated as the second product.

There are many theories that explain how enzymes work. But, there are two important
theories that we will discuss here.

Theory 1: Lock and Key Hypothesis

This theory states that the substrate fits exactly into the active site of the enzyme to form an
enzyme-substrate complex. This model also describes why enzymes are so specific in their action
because they are specific to the substrate molecules.

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Theory 2: Induced Fit Hypothesis
This is similar to the lock and key hypothesis. It says that the shape of the enzyme molecule
changes as it gets closer to the substrate molecule in such a way that the substrate molecule fits
exactly into the active site of the enzyme.

What factors affect enzyme activity in the cell?

 Concentration of Enzymes and Substrates: The rate of reaction increases with increasing
substrate concentration up to a point, beyond which any further increase in substrate
concentration produces no significant change in reaction rate. This occurs because after a
certain concentration of the substrate, all the active sites on the enzyme are full and no
further reaction can occur.
 Temperature: With the increase in temperature, the enzyme activity increases because of
the increase in kinetic energy of the molecules. There is an optimum level when the enzymes
work at the best and maximum. This temperature is often the normal body temperature of the
body. When the temperature increases beyond a certain limit, enzymes, which are actually
made up of proteins, begin to disintegrate and the rate of reaction slows down.
 pH: Enzymes are very sensitive to changes in the pH and work in a very small window of
permissible pH levels. Below or above the optimum pH level, there is a risk of the enzymes
disintegrating and thereby the reaction slows down.
 Inhibitors: Presence of certain substances that inhibit the action of a particular enzyme. This
occurs when the inhibiting substance attaches itself to the active site of the enzyme thereby
preventing the substrate attachment and slows down the process.

Closing Prayer
May God the Father bless us, may God the Son heal us, may God the Holy Spirit enlighten
us, and give us eyes to see with, ears to hear with, hands to do the work of God with, feet
to walk with, and mouth to preach the word of salvation with, And may the angel of peace
watch over us and lead us at last, to the Lord's gift to the kingdom. Amen

D. REFERENCES

Rea, Maria Angelica D., et al. (2017). General Biology 1. Rex Book Store, Inc.
Retrieved from https://www.toppr.com/guides/biology/biomolecules/enzymes/ October 15, 2020

GENERAL BIOLOGY 1 – GRADE 12 STEM

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 First Quarter - Week 7

Name of Learner: __________________________________ Date: _______________

Grade & Section: Grade 12 St. Ignatius Delgado (STEM)

Answer the following questions.

1. What is enzyme?
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2. What is the function of enzyme?

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3. What are the special characteristics of enzyme?

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4. Describe the components of enzymes.

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