Catalytic mechanism

Enzyme catalysis is the increase in the rate of a chemical reaction by the active site of a protein. The protein catalyst (enzyme) may be part of a multi-subunit complex, and/or may transiently or permanently associate with a Cofactor (e.g. adenosine triphosphate). Catalysis of biochemical reactions in the cell is vital due to the very low reaction rates of the uncatalysed reactions at room temperature and pressure. A key driver of protein evolution is the optimization of such catalytic activities via protein dynamics.

The mechanism of enzyme catalysis is similar in principle to other types of chemical catalysis. By providing an alternative reaction route the enzyme reduces the energy required to reach the highest energy transition state of the reaction. The reduction of activation energy (Ea) increases the amount of reactant molecules that achieve a sufficient level of energy, such that they reach the activation energy and form the product. As with other catalysts, the enzyme is not consumed during the reaction (as a substrate is) but is recycled such that a single enzyme performs many rounds of catalysis.

The favored model for the enzyme-substrate interaction is the induced fit model. This model proposes that the initial interaction between enzyme and substrate is relatively weak, but that these weak interactions rapidly induce conformational changes in the enzyme that strengthen binding.

The advantages of the induced fit mechanism arise due to the stabilizing effect of strong enzyme binding. There are two different mechanisms of substrate binding: uniform binding, which has strong substrate binding, and differential binding, which has strong transition state binding. The stabilizing effect of uniform binding increases both substrate and transition state binding affinity, while differential binding increases only transition state binding affinity. Both are used by enzymes and have been evolutionarily chosen to minimize the activation energy of the reaction. Enzymes that are saturated, that is, have a high affinity substrate binding, require differential binding to reduce the energy of activation, whereas small substrate unbound enzymes may use either differential or uniform binding.

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