Lock and key: why enzymes are specific
Biology · Grade 10 · about 40 minutes
The active site fits one substrate. Products leave; the enzyme is unchanged. Heat or pH that warps the site ends the reaction.
Sign in to read this lesson
Lessons are for learners and teachers with an account. Browsing the curriculum — subjects, strands and what each sub-strand covers — stays open to everyone.
- 6 sections of explanation, worked examples and diagrams
- 1 practice task with hints and worked answers
- A quiz that marks itself as you go
- Your progress kept across every subject you take
Other lessons in this sub-strand
- The chemicals of life
- Enzymes
- What carbohydrates are made of
- Simple sugars: mono and disaccharides
- Starch, glycogen and cellulose
- What carbohydrates do in the body
- Amino acids and peptide bonds
- How a protein gets its shape
- What proteins do
- How a lipid is built
- Types and functions of lipids
- Nucleic acids: DNA and RNA
- Why water is an unusual molecule
- What water does in living things
- Vitamins: small doses, large effects
- Vitamins on a Kenyan plate
- Mineral salts the body cannot skip
- Iron, iodine, calcium and fluoride in Kenya
- Testing for starch with iodine
- Benedict's test for reducing sugar
- The Biuret test for protein
- Testing for lipids
- A balanced diet
- Kwashiorkor and marasmus
- Deficiency diseases still seen in Kenya
- Lock and key: why enzymes are specific
- Temperature and the rate of enzyme reactions
- pH, substrate and enzyme concentration