Lab Report 1 Principles of Biology 1(BIOL 100)
Fall 2001 Gerard Chretien
Living cells perform a multitude of chemical reactions very rapidly because of the participation of enzymes. Enzymes are biological catalysts, compounds that speed up a chemical reaction without being used up or altered in the reaction. The material with which the catalysts reacts, called the substrate, is modified during the reaction to form a new product. But because the enzyme itself emerges from the reaction unchanged and ready to bind with another substrate molecule, a small amount of enzyme can alter a relatively enormous amount of substrate.
This report will illustrate the enzymatic action of the enzyme catecholase, which is common in plants. To study this particular enzyme in a laboratory, the natural substrate catechol is oxidized by the removal of two hydrogen atoms. The substrates of the enzyme are catechol and oxygen. These substates react with one another within the active......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 1305
Approximate Pages: 6 (260 words per double-spaced page) |