Biology
Introduction In order to understand the activity of enzymes at different temperatures the ability of the enzyme to function can be measured. This is important in many applications such as Polymerase Chain Reaction for forensics as well as genetics research where manipulation of temperature-dependent enzymes allows for replication of DNA segments. Bennett states, “when the energy - measured as heat - increases in a chemical reaction the energy increases the reaction speed and reaction rate.” (1969) This happens until a threshold though in many biological processes where positive energy input no longer increases reaction speed due to the inhibition of other factors - in this experiment that factor is the degradation or denaturing of the protein complex that is the enzyme working to catalyze the reaction. One would make the hypothesis that for any given enzyme there is a minimum reaction rate which increases with temperature then at a maximum point begins to be less and less efficient as the enzyme form no longer works to catalyze the reactions with its given substrates.
Materials and Methods After obtaining five clean test tubes and labeling them in order one through five, each were marked at one centimeter and at four centimeters from the bottom with a permanent marker. Next, the potato juice/catalase extract is added to each tube to the one centimeter mark. The following portion of the experiment was in segments for each tube. Tube one was placed in an ice-bath by adding ice and water in a 250ml beaker. Tube two was placed in the tube rack on the lab bench in a room temperature environment. Tube three was placed in a water bath at 50 degrees celsius, and tube four was set in the 70 degree celsius water bath. Tube five was placed in a boiling water bath of a beaker on the hot plate while wearing goggles for protection. Each tube was then left in the
Bibliography: Bennett. 1969. Modern Topic in Biochemistry 43-45 Campbell, N. 2002. Biology, 6th ed.: Enzymes 300-340 Cummings. 1998. Biology in the Laboratory: Temperature and enzymes. 1-9, 10-20 Gilbert, S. 2002. “Enzymes.” Biology Vol.2. 3-9 ----------------------- [pic]