Some enzymes are good, some act poorly what are charateristics of a good enzyme?

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Enzymes play a crucial role in the survival of organisms by regulating biochemical reactions. They can vary in speed; some act quickly to prevent the accumulation of products, such as carbonic anhydrase, which rapidly converts CO2 to bicarbonate. Others function more slowly to control the production of specific molecules, acting as bottlenecks in metabolic pathways. Enzymes also differ in specificity, with some targeting only one substrate while others can interact with multiple substrates, highlighting the diversity and adaptability of enzymatic functions in biological systems.
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As in Title, help much appreciated! thanks
 
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An enzyme that betters the chance of an organism surviving.
 


Do you mean that some are fast and some are slow? Enzymes have evolved to maintain a balance with a whole lot of other enzymes. Some are slow because they need to act as a bit of a bottleneck to prevent too much of a particular product being generated, or too much of a molecule being consumed too quickly.

Some need to act very quickly to prevent buildup of a product eg carbonic anhydrase is an extremely fast enzyme that converts CO2 to HCO3-.

Additionally, some enzymes are very specific and act on one substrate only, whereas some are promiscuous and can act on a range of different substrates. Variety is the spice of life!

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

FM
 

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