Catechol Oxidase Enzyme Lab Report

Introduction Enzymes are protein based structures that help speed up chemical reactions. They help these reactions keep up with the everyday metabolic needs and other like functions of organisms. Enzymes are also considered catalysts, due to the lowering in activation energy, in which they are not consumed or changed at any point during the reaction. These enzymes have three main protein structures that help keep them formed and intact. Stage 1 of these structures is the primary structure, which is a unique sequence of amino acids. These unique sequences, when either folded or coiled into a chain, make up the second stage, the secondary structure. Once all these coils are folded into a three dimensional structure, the
Respectively, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 24 drops of catechol were added to each of the tubes. To equal out the amount of solution in each of the test tubes, respectively 23, 22, 20, 16, 8 and 0 drops of pH 7 buffer were added. 30 drops of potato juice containing the catechol oxidase enzyme were then added to the solution, and then timed for 5 minutes at room temperature. The pH treatment only required 5 test tubes, with 3mL of matching buffer (pH4, pH6, pH7, pH8, and pH10) in the appropriate tube. Following this, 10 drops of both potato juice and catechol are added to the tubes, and then timed for 5 minutes at room temperature. For temperature, 6 test tubes were required, and placed in their appropriate temperature treatments all with 3mL of pH7 buffer in them. These tubes were place in either 3°C, 12°C, 20°C, 35°C, 50°C, and 70°C baths for 15 minutes to warm each tube up to the appropriate temperature. After the 15 minutes, 10 drops of both catechol and potato juice are added to each of the pH7 solutions. After arranging all the solutions from palest to darkest in their respective treatments, the spectrometer would be needed. Starting with the palest and moving to the darkest, all absorbance was measured at 460 nm. Once all these readings are found, divide by 0.0078 to calculate the benzoquinone concentration (µm). Mean and standard deviation were both calculated using Microsoft Excel