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A student investigated the activity of a human enzyme at different temperatures - Edexcel - GCSE Biology - Question 6 - 2020 - Paper 1
Question 6
A student investigated the activity of a human enzyme at different temperatures. The student measured the mass of product formed after 10 minutes at different temper... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:A student investigated the activity of a human enzyme at different temperatures - Edexcel - GCSE Biology - Question 6 - 2020 - Paper 1
Step 1
Describe the trends shown in Figure 10.
Answer
The graph shows that the mass of product formed increases with temperature up to 40°C, where it reaches a maximum of 300 mg. Beyond this point, the mass of the product formed begins to decline. This indicates that the enzyme is most active at around 40°C, which is its optimum temperature. The initial increase in activity suggests that the enzyme functions better as it approaches its optimal temperature, while the subsequent decrease implies denaturation or reduced activity as the temperature increases beyond this point.
Step 2
Step 4
Explain the reason why no product will be formed if the enzyme is mixed with substrate Q.
Answer
The active site of the enzyme has a specific shape that is complementary to its substrate. Substrate Q does not fit into the active site due to its incompatible shape. As a result, the enzyme cannot bind with substrate Q, meaning no enzyme-substrate complex can form, and therefore no product will be produced.