Basic terms
A substance that speeds up a reaction but is not consumed during the reaction
When there is more substrate available than can be processed, the rate of the reaction is at this.
What is Vmax ? (maximum velocity).
A molecule that binds the active site and prevents the substrate from entering
What is a competitive inhibitor?
A non-protein molecule that is needed for an enzymatic reaction to occur
What is a cofactor? (sometimes "coenzyme," though more properly a "co-substrate).
Processes that break complex molecules in to simpler molecules with lower chemical PE.
What is catabolism (or a catabolic process)?
While almost all enzymes are proteins, a few very important ones are made of this
What is RNA
The concentration of substrate that yields ½ of the maximum rate
What is the Km?
A molecule that binds to an enzyme somewhere other than the active site and slows down the reaction
What is a non-competitive inhibitor?
Many cofactors needed by enzymes are known as these
What are vitamins?
A process that build more complex, higher-energy molecules out of simpler ones.
What is anabolism (or anabolic processes)?
The "reactant" in a reaction involving an enzyme
What is the substrate?
Energy will distribute evenly in the space available to it-OR-for any spontaneous process, the entropy of the universe will increase
What is the second law of thermodynamics
A protein or other molecule binds an enzyme away from the active site and activates it.
What is allosteric activation
A series of catalytic steps, each catalyzed by different enzymes, that result in the production of an important product
What is a metabolic pathway?
Energy needed to initiate a reaction
What is activation energy?
The place on an enzyme where the substrate binds
Many cofactors are derivatives of the building blocks of this macromolecule
What is RNA
When a reaction is spontaneous, this value is negative.
What is
\DeltaG^0?
Catalysts work by lowering this
What is the Activation Energy?
What is feedback inhibition?
A negatively charge functional group that, when added to a protein, can change its shape and function (usually activate it).
What is a phosphate
What is free energy?