Beta Galactosidase Lab Report

Chemical reactions are at the heart of all biological processes. The body must regulate precisely all the chemical reactions going on in order to maintain life. Much of this regulation is done by changing the activity of enzymes.(www.biology.kenyon.edu) Enzymes are biological molecules (typically proteins) that significantly speed up the rate of virtually all of the chemical reactions that take place within cells.(www.livescience.com) Enzymes speed up chemical reactions by providing an alternate reaction pathway and lowering activation energy. Enzymes are vital for life and serve a wide range of important functions in the body, such as aiding in digestion and metabolism. (Biology Lab Manual) Some enzymes help break large molecules into smaller
It is a digestive enzyme found in the intestines of mammals. Beta-galactosidase is an enzyme that initiates the breakdown of the substrate lactose. Lactose is a disaccharide sugar found in milk. It is composed of two rings. The rings contain 5 carbon atoms and an oxygen atom. Attached to the carbon atoms are a hydrogen atom and an OH group or another carbon. The rings are bound together by an oxygen bridge. This bridge can be broken when the enzyme Beta-galactosidase binds to lactose and a water molecule reacts with the oxygen atom in the bridge. (www.biology.kenyon.edu) Reactions in which water molecules are added are called hydrolysis reactions. When the lactose reacts with the water the oxygen bridge is broken. This results in the production of galactose and
Monobodies are compact proteins that function as synthetic antibodies. Monobodies recognize and bind to specific target proteins. They serve as a marker. Because of their small and simple structure, monobodies can be designed to bind to desired positions within a target molecule such as an enzyme. (www.sciencelife.uchospitals.edu)
The researchers focused on Beta-galactosidase, an enzyme widely used in the food industry. One of its major uses is the production of short sugar chains that can serve as beneficial prebiotics. Prebiotics is a non-digestible food ingredient that promotes the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the intestines. (www.foodinsight.org) Beta-galactosidase builds chains of sugar molecules by adding individual sugar units to existing chains. The products vary in length, leading to low amounts of the desired short sugar chains.