What are Enzymes?
Enzymes
Enzymes can be defined as biological catalysts. A catalyst is a substance which speed up a chemical reaction but remains unchanged itself at the end. Enzymes are biological catalysts because they re protein molecules made by living cells. typical human cell contains several thousand enzymes.
Characteristics of enzymes
1. Enzymes are biological catalysts - a catalyst speeds up a chemical reaction without used up at the end
2. Most enzymes are proteins – only few catalytic RNAs (Ribozymes)
3. Enzymes are extraordinarily efficient (rate enhancement in the range of 5 to 17 orders of magnitude)
4. Need mild physiological conditions for the enzymatic function (e.g. temperature, pH etc)
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