enzymes

enzymes

Introduction

There is a type of substances related to life called enzymes which successfully promote the metabolic processes and every chemical reaction in organisms (Reece et al., 2014). The categories of enzymes people known so far are around 3000 types while about 700 types of them can be found in human bodies.
In a catalytic system of enzymes, a substrate (starting molecules) is converted to another molecule through catalyzing. In order to accelerate the rate of reactions, it is necessary for enzymes to take part in all of the cellular motion processes. Like other catalysts, enzymes speed up the rate of reactions by lowering the activation energy (Ea or ΔG, the minimum energy required to start a chemical reaction). As a result, most enzymes can increase their rate of reactions by millions of times rather than a normal reaction without a catalyst. High catalytic power and specifity are two characteristics of these biological catalysts since the catalyzing processes required conditions with room temperature and pressure (Reece et al., 2014).
Enzyme activity (the ability for enzymes to catalyze specific chemical reactions) can be influenced by other molecules such as inhibitors (molecules which decrease enzyme activity) and activators (molecules which increase enzyme activity). It also can be affected by temperature, chemical environment (like pH value), concentrations of substrate, electromagnetic wave (like microwave) and so forth. Generally, the suitable temperatures for enzymes in animal bodies are between 35° to 40° and for enzymes in plants are between 40° to 50°. As for pH values, most enzymes exist in pH between 6.5 to 8.0 in animal bodies and between 4.5 to 6.5 in plants.
Life is composed of cells and the main factor of cellular motion is the existence of enzymes. Enzymes are the catalysts of metabolic processes in human bodies so the larger number of enzymes the healthier life will be. In other words, a person will die if there are no more...

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