All enzymes have chemical groups which perform the catalysis. In the case of trypsin these are amino acid side chains. Note that some proteins utilize non-amino acid cofactors to help with the catalysis. Hit the Active Site Residues button to highlight the active site residues in Trypsin. Note that these same residues perform similar functions in other serine proteases.
All enzymes have a site on their surface that binds substrate.
The inhibitor is colored yellow. Enzymes form specific interactions with their substrates. The contacts between substrate and enzyme can be as numerous as those found between the amino acids in the folded protein. Last modified Nov. 1, 1999.