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Enzyme Reaction Lab Report

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Introduction: An enzyme is a protein-based molecule, which acts as a catalyst (a catalyst is a biological molecule which serves to increase the rate at which a chemical reaction occurs by lowering the activation energy barrier without being consumed). The purpose of this experiment was to determine the properties of acid phosphatase (APase) a wheat-germ based enzyme, whose optimal conditions are as follows: pH of 4.8 and temperature of 37 oC) (acid phosphatases remove phosphate groups from molecules and work best in acidic conditions). Employing such optimums to be the positive controls, a series of experiments with negative controls were conducted.
Concerning the experiment conducted during week one, the effect of substrate concentration on an enzyme reaction was desired. The purpose of week two then was to investigate the effects of the general environmental factors of temperature or pH on the enzymatic reaction. Regarding the hypotheses tested, it was predicted that a higher concentration of the p-nitrophenyl phosphate (NPP) substrate would elicit greater enzymatic activity. During week two, it was predicted that a change in temperature would increase enzyme activity. Finally, with a lower pH enzymatic …show more content…

The enzymatic activity was measured using the Apase substrate that changes color upon treatment and quantitated using the spectrophotometer. The highest absorbency thus denoted the optimal conditions for the experiment with regard to substrate level concentration, pH and temperature. In order to best compare the enzymatic activity, and determine the effect these variables had upon absorbency, the measurement of the reaction at specific times was necessitated. The substance NaOH was thus employed to effectively stop the reaction and permit these measurements to be

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