Preview

Enzyme Kinetics of Beta-Galactosidase

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1705 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Enzyme Kinetics of Beta-Galactosidase
Abstract
This experiment is to study and measure the enzyme activity of β-galactosidase in the different concentrations of o-Nitrophenylgalactoside (ONPG) using a spectrophotometer. The spectrophotometer was also set at 420nm, a wavelength which is best for recording the absorbance values for the experiment. From the results, 0.9mM ONPG solution has the highest absorbance and 0.1mM ONPG solution has the least. Also, 0.5mM ONPG solution has the highest rate of enzyme activity and it is the most efficient as the enzyme activity of the ONPG solution continues even though the other concentrations of ONPG solution has already stopped the enzymatic reactions as the substrate is already used up.

Introduction
This experiment is to study and measure the enzyme activity using a spectrophotometer and to understand the practical aspects of handling enzymse. This is done when the colourless ONPG is split into galactose and o-Nitrophenol (a yellow compound). The higher the enzyme concentration, the higher the absorbance value. Different molecules absorb different wavelengths of light. For this experiment, the spectrophotometer is set at 420nm, so that we can obtain the best absorbance results.
ONPG →galactose+ o-Nitrophenol
A catalyst is a substance that reduces the activation energy of a chemical reaction, making it energetically viable. It is also used to speed up the rate of a chemical reaction. Enzymes are an example of a catalyst that can be found in the body. They are biological catalysts which are mainly made up of proteins. It is produced to speed up chemical reactions and remain unchanged after a reaction. Enzymes have active site for the substrate to attach to, either to be broken up or joined together. They are also specific in their reactions, they only speed up certain reaction as the active site can only fit a certain substrate and does not work for the other substrates. Also, enzymes will only work properly upon strict optimum conditions. They lower the



References: Wikipedia, 2011. Enzymes [online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzyme [Accessed 14th June 2011] Enzymes [online] Wikipedia, 2011. Enzyme substrate (biology) [online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzyme_substrate_(biology) [Accessed 14th June 2011] Biology Questions and Answers, 2011 What Is Catalyst? [online]. Available from: http://www.thegeminigeek.com/what-is-catalyst/ [Accessed 14th June 2011] Worthington Biochemical Corporation, 2011 Wikipedia, 2011. Spectrophotometry [online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrophotometry [Accessed 18th June 2011] How does a spectrophotometer work? [online]

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    GRT1 Task 4

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Enzymes only react with substrates that are specific to that enzyme. When a substrate is accepted by the enzyme, the end result is a product. This product becomes the substrate for the next enzyme in the pathway.…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. What is a catalyst? An enzyme is a biological catalyst that speeds up chemical reactions in the body.…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ap Biology Unit 1 Summary

    • 2660 Words
    • 11 Pages

    * Enzymes are biological catalysts, and catalysts are chemicals that speed up chemical reactions without being consumed in the process…

    • 2660 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wgu Est1 Task 4

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Enzymes are special proteins that carry out chemical reactions, also known as catalysts. Two important features that make all enzymes catalysts are their ability to bind to a substrate. A substrate is anything that needs to be changed into something else. The second important feature is that it works to lower the activation energy without being used or changed in the reaction (Hudon-Miller, 2012.…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Natural enzymes are proteins that catalyze biological reactions by lowering the activation energy of the reaction without being altered during the process. The enzyme used in this experiment was the β-galactosidase purified from E. coli. This enzyme hydrolyzes lactose and turns it into galactose and glucose. Since it is difficult to assay the activity of β-galactosidase, we will be using the artificial substrate, o-nitrophenyl-β-galactoside (ONPG) instead of lactose. ONPG is an analog of lactose and an advantage of using ONPG is that it is easy to determine the amount of ONPG cleaved by using spectrometric assay (1). The β-galactosidase hydrolyzes ONPG and yields a yellow solution that contains o-nitrophenol and galactose. The solution becomes more yellow as the more ONPG is being degraded. Using spectrophotometry, the absorbance of the solution can be determined at a wavelength of 420nm. The assays will help determine the Km, Vmax, and Kcat of the enzyme. In our assays, Na2CO3 is used to stop the reactions by changing the solution pH to basic and as a result the enzyme will become inactive.…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Lab 1 again

    • 768 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Enzyme Kinetics and Protein Determination: How Enzyme Catalase Concentration Affects Reaction Rate and Determining the Identity of Unknown Proteins through Absorbance…

    • 768 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Enzymes are biological catalysts (substances that speed up a chemical reaction without themselves being permanently altered)…

    • 1649 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ap Biology Enzyme

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1) The purpose of this lab was to determine the rate of enzyme activity under variety of different conditions, such as, different amount of drops of enzymes and different temperature of water. The class measured the pressure in the test tube during the reaction of the substance with, 1.5 ml of H2O2, 1.5ml of H2O and different amounts of enzyme drops, to determine how much oxygen gas is produced during the reaction since the pressure of the test tube will get higher as more oxygen gas is accumulated during the reaction.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Enzyme Lab Using Jello

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Enzymes are known as protein catalysts. The name protein catalyst suggests that most enzymes are made of proteins. A catalyst is a substance that speeds up chemical reactions without being consumed in the process. (Giuseppe, M 2002, p.69). After a reaction has been catalyzed, the catalyst can be used again to catalyze the same reaction. Enzymes reduce the activation energy (minimal energy) it takes for a reaction to take place. Enzymes can either catabolize (destroy), or anabolize (build up) a chemical system.…

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    enzyme

    • 2347 Words
    • 10 Pages

    When you set up an experiment in Enzyme Lab, you will add a buffered solution, sucrose as the substrate, invertase (the enzyme), and, in some reactions, inhibitors to a test tube to measure the rate of invertase activity. You will have the choice of performing each reaction at different temperatures and under different buffer conditions so you can observe the effect of changing these variables on invertase activity. A simulated visible light spectrophotometer will measure product as it is created. Data are recorded and plotted as a function of product concentration [P] in micromoles (m) versus time (minutes). The data you collect can then be analyzed by several different types of plots that are commonly used for analyzing data for enzyme-catalyzed reactions.…

    • 2347 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this lab, I will study how digestion of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats occurs. I will define Key Terms that describe what will occur in the experiments; I will conduct an experiment for each Activity and provide all resulting Data as well as answer Questions from each Activity. I will then provide a short Summary for what I learned in each Activity.…

    • 2093 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    To test the effect of a substrate concentration on enzyme activity, the amylase enzymes were combined with a different substrate concentration (starch) and the rate of the reaction was determined with the aid of I2kI. If starch was detected, the solution turned to dark blue; if the starch was already broken down, then reaction stayed colorless. To test the optimal PH, the starch and a buffer were combined at a specific PH level and the rate of reaction was tested. To determine the optimal temperature of amylase enzyme, the solution and amylases enzyme were held at various temperatures and the rate of reaction was determined.…

    • 2678 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The enzyme tyrosinase was successively extracted by combining a homogenate of a potato and sodium sulfate with ammonium sulfate. Tyrosinase was successfully extracted by taking advantage of solubility properties of certain proteins. A standard curve was generated indicating dopachrome absorbance values through the use of a spectrophotometer and a computer graphing program. A spectrophotometer was used to measure either the amount of light that passed through a solution (transmittance) of the amount of light absorbed by the solution (absorbance) at various wavelengths.…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Biology

    • 39898 Words
    • 160 Pages

    • Enzymes are biological catalysts. This means that they lower the energy required to start a chemical reaction within a cell but do not get used up by that reaction. Every reaction and process within a cell (metabolism) is controlled by a specific enzyme.…

    • 39898 Words
    • 160 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Most of the chemical reactions, which occur throughout our bodies, would proceed at a much slower rate of reaction without the presence of an enzyme. Cells can not wait for centuries for molecules to break down, if they waited for that, there would be no way for the organism to obtain energy or in turn survive. This is where biological catalyst comes into play. (Ophardt, 2003)…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics