The Use of Enzymes - Lab Report Example

Conclusively, an increase in temperature increases the enzyme's activity up to the maximum level, and further growth leads to the denaturing of the enzyme. For any chemical reaction to proceed within a cell, activation energy must cause and complete this process. This is made possible by the use of enzymes. Enzymes essentially work within the cells, and their ability is determined due to their specificity brought about by the shapes from the amino acid sequences (Daniel and Danson 2740). The enzymes have active sites on their surfaces to allow the binding of a substrate through the help of coenzymes to form an enzyme-substrate complex. The chemical reaction thus converts the substrate to a new product, then released, and the catalytic cycle proceeds.

Many factors, for example, pH and temperature, affect the way enzymes work by either increasing the rate or determining the type of product produced (). The report, therefore, analyses the effects of the enzyme peroxidase in metabolic reactions and determines its optimum temperature in the responses. Materials used in the experiment included 5-7 g of potato tissue, 50 ml of 2.0M phosphate buffer coffee filter and guaiacol dye. Enzyme peroxidase was extracted from 5-7g of potato tissue by blending it with 50 ml of 2.0M phosphate buffer with a pH of 5 then the solution was filtered through the coffee filter. The effect of temperature was then determined on the activity of enzyme peroxidase by monitoring its impact under different temperatures of 4, 32 and 600C on the dye guaiacol when it turned brown. A graph was then plotted to determine the optimum temperature for the enzyme.

The temperature increased from 40 C to room temperature of 22.20 C, increasing the peroxidase activity. This explained that an increase in temperature up to the optimum point led to an increased breakdown of guaiacol dye to colour brown with intensity increasing up to this optimum point. Further increase in temperature to 60C denatured the enzyme; therefore, the brown colour production stopped, and its power was reduced. From the experiment, therefore, the optimum temperature for peroxidase is at 22.20C from the graph in figure 1. The temperature effect is reversible when the peroxidase is exposed to temperatures that negatively affect its function. This is done by adding many substrates to the enzyme's active sites to enhance its activity. From the experiment, it is illustrated in the graph in figure 2 with the constant slope from the temperature of 40 C to 320 C. further increase of temperature to 600 C led to the reduction of the enzyme activity on the dye as a result of denaturing effect, thus less colour intensity.

An increase in temperature increases the rate of enzyme activity to a maximum level. This is because the kinetic energy is increased and, therefore, more collision of the substrate and the enzyme is enhanced. The rate increases to the optimum temperature, as indicated in the graph of figure 1, at a temperature of 22.20 C. This is the maximum temperature at which the enzyme works best. Therefore, the metabolic reactions within the body are effectively carried out at these temperatures, and thus, any hydrogen peroxide within the cells is broken down into less harmful products (Coppens and Bogaert 34).

Further temperature increases above this denature the enzyme; thus, the activity and rate decline. This is illustrated in figure 1 by the deterioration of the slope from the temperature of 22.20 C to 600 C. in the graph of figure 2; the hill is from the temperature of 320 C to 600 C. These temperatures make it harmful for enzymatic activities in the body because of the denaturation effect. As a result, the hydrogen peroxide accumulates in the cells leading to harmful impacts.