Invertase Lab Report

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Enzymes act as catalysis to speed up a specific chemical reaction, due to their conformations. The shape of the enzyme is determined by the polypeptide sequence, because it causes the protein to fold into a native shape. This conformation creates a specific active site, which is comprised of a groove that a substrate can bind to (Cornish-Bowden, 1981). Competitive inhibitors can bind to the active site, preventing the binding of a normal substance and decrease the enzymes activity. This study focused on the enzyme invertase, which breaks down sucrose to glucose and fructose. Invertase produces high activity roughly in the range of pH 3-8 and the optimal pH is 4.5 (Wang, 2008). The rate of the reaction thrives in a range of 40˚C to 60˚C (Schiweck, 2007). This enzyme contains disulfide linkages in its three-dimensional structure represented in figure 1 (RCSB protein data base). These bonds will determine the enzymes activity. If the disulfide bonds were degraded, the enzyme would become inactive. Therefore, under environmental conditions the temperature or pH can facilitate the destruction of the disulfide …show more content…

The reaction rates are monitored by the glucose and fructose concentrations. The amount of product that was created was determined colorimetrically with DNS. Glucose and fructose react with DNS to produce ANS (Wang, 2008). The absorption of ANS at 540nm is directly proportional to the amount of sucrose being catalyzed by invertase. It is hypothesized that the enzyme kinetics of invertase will be affected if an inhibitor is added to the reaction, causing the reaction rate to decrease. Additionally, if the environmental conditions were to fluctuate, such as temperature and pH, then the reaction rate will be affected. Temperatures outside of the range of 40-60 degrees Celsius should decrease the reaction rate. If the pH is outside of 3-8 the reaction rate should

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