Bacillus Licheniformis

Chemicals reactions within cells are aided by enzymes that increase in the rate at which reactions take place (Alberts et.al, 2010 p.90). Enzymes are biological catalysts that work by binding themselves to substrate molecules and lowering the activation energy of a reaction (Alberts et.al, 2010 p.90). The purpose of the lab was to test how temperature will affect the rate at which starch hydrolyzed.

In the experiment conducted, bacterium; Bacillus Licheniformis and the fungus; Aspergillus Oryzae was used to examine how changes in temperature of the enzymes affects the rate of the reaction with starch. Amylase is an enzyme, found chiefly in saliva and pancreatic fluid, that converts starch and glycogen into simple sugars. This enzymatic reaction therefore needs the utilization of water molecules. This is why the reaction is called a hydrolytic reaction and therefore, undergoes a procedure referred to as hydrolysis.
As time progressed and temperature increased, the solutions turned yellow, therefore, indicating that there is an absence of starch, as this was expected to happen in bacterial amylase. It fully hydrolyzed within 4 minutes at 85oC. Thus at the end of the reaction no starch should be present. However, this did not happen for fungal amylase. There was only slight color change at 85oC. We can come to a conclusion that an error occurred.

The experiment with bacterial and fungal amylase revealed that increasing the temperature of the enzyme decreased the time need for the reaction to reach its end point. The understanding of how enzymes of amylase help to break down starch or any organic material will help understand how to treat many situations. It was confirmed that temperature does alter enzymatic reaction and will impact weather or not a reaction will take