Each student will study a different structure. In living systems, nearly all chemical transformations are catalyzed and regulated by enzymes. Kinetic analysis of an enzymatic reaction is used to study substrate-enzyme affinity, the catalytic rate constant, and mechanism of catalysis and inhibition. Detailed kinetic information is necessary for understanding enzyme specificity.
Proteases are enzymes that hydrolyze amide bonds of proteins and peptides.
57 and aspartic acid 102 are linked by hydrogen bonds and act in concert during catalysis. These three residues are called the catalytic triad. Trypsin is produced in the pancreas and is secreted into the small intestine, where it hydrolyses amide bonds of proteins during digestion. In this lab you will be using bovine beta-trypsin. Cleavage occurs by autolysis - a process in which one trypsin molecule hydrolyzes an amide bond of another trypsin molecule.