Enzyme Kinetics

Enzyme Kinetics

Introduction

For all enzymatic processes the rate of the reaction depends upon the concentration of the enzyme and its substrates, other conditions like temperature and pH being constant. Figure 9.1 shows the relationship between the substrate and product concentrations.

Although the velocity increases linearly with enzyme concentration, at constant enzyme concentration it increases hyperbolically as the substrate concentration increases. This indicates that the enzyme has a definite number of sites to combine with substrate. When all sites are occupied, no further rate enhancement occurs and the enzyme is saturated with the substrate.