General
Principles
Enzyme kinetics is the study of the chemical reactions that are catalysed by enzymes. In enzyme kinetics, the reaction rate is measured and the effects of
varying the conditions of the reaction are investigated. Studying an enzyme's kinetics in this way can reveal the catalytic mechanism of this enzyme, its role
in metabolism, how its activity is controlled, and how a drug or an agonist might inhibit the enzyme.
The reaction catalysed by an enzyme uses exactly the same reactants and produces exactly the
same products as the uncatalysed reaction. Like other catalysts, enzymes do not alter the
position of equilibrium between substrates and products.
However, unlike uncatalysed chemical reactions, enzyme-catalysed reactions display saturation
kinetics.
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