Question

In addition to being essential within living organisms, enzymes are also used in many of the products we use! Check your cleaning supplies at home, do any of them list enzymes on the ingredient list? If so, does it say which type of enzyme? Does any of the other products you use contain enzymes? What type of enzymes are used in industry? Which enzymes are found in the food we eat?   

After doing some research, choose and describe one enzyme that is used in cleaning products, other products, industrial procedures or that is found in food. Explain how this enzyme is used. What is the substrate in the chemical reaction? And what is the product(s)?

Remember that a chemical reaction converts one or more substrates to one or more products, and that most enzymes are substrate specific. When looking for enzymes remember that their names end with -ase!

Answer 1

Enzyme proteins are only active when the specified substrate is present. The various types of actions can be categorized into specific enzyme classes. The most common enzyme types used in the Household care industry are proteases, amylases, lipase, cellulases, mannanases, and pectinases.

Industrial application of enzymes in industry include lipase, polyphenol oxidases, lignin peroxidase, horseradish peroxidase, amylase, nitrite reductase, and urease. Many of these enzymes are used for biosensors because of the specific affinity between a substrate and its enzyme.

Proteases accelerate the breakdown of proteins into peptides and soluble amino acids. Proteases are basic ingredients in laundry detergents and are used worldwide because of their effectiveness on common stain components, such as food, grass, and blood.

ENZYMES FOUND IN FOOD-

• Proteases: Break down protein into small peptides and amino acids.
• Lipases: Break down fat into three fatty acids plus a glycerol molecule.
• Amylases: Break down carbs like starch into simple sugars.
• Diastases: Break down starch into maltose
• Invertases: Break down sucrose, a type of sugar, into glucose and fructose
• Proteases: Break down proteins into amino acids

ENZYME WORKING-

A substance that speeds up a chemical reaction—without being a reactant—is called a catalyst. The catalysts for biochemical reactions that happen in living organisms are called enzymes. Enzymes are usually proteins, though some ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules act as enzymes too.

Enzymes perform the critical task of lowering a reaction's activation energy—that is, the amount of energy that must be put in for the reaction to begin. Enzymes work by binding to reactant molecules and holding them in such a way that the chemical bond-breaking and bond-forming processes take place more readily.

To catalyze a reaction, an enzyme will grab on (bind) to one or more reactant molecules. These molecules are the enzyme's substrates.

In some reactions, one substrate is broken down into multiple products. In others, two substrates come together to create one larger molecule or to swap pieces.The part of the enzyme where the substrate binds is called the active site.

Proteins are made of units called amino acids, and in enzymes that are proteins, the active site gets its properties from the amino acids it's built out of. These amino acids may have side chains that are large or small, acidic or basic, hydrophilic or hydrophobic.

The set of amino acids found in the active site, along with their positions in 3D space, give the active site a very specific size, shape, and chemical behavior. Thanks to these amino acids, an enzyme's active site is uniquely suited to bind to a particular target—the enzyme's substrate or substrates—and help them undergo a chemical reaction.

There were six classes of enzymes that were created so that enzymes could easily be named. These classes are: Oxidoreductases, Transferases, Hydrolases, Lyases, Isomerases, and Ligases. This is the international​ classification used for enzymes. Other than that we have-

• Lipases – a group of enzymes that help digest fats in the gut.
• Amylase – helps change starches into sugars.
• Maltase – also found in saliva; breaks the sugar maltose into glucose.