Name __________________________________ Period _________

AP Biology Date ______________________

LAB _____. FACTORS INFLUENCING ENZYME ACTIVITY

Background
Enzymes are biological catalysts capable of speeding up chemical reactions by lowering
activation energy. One benefit of enzyme catalysts is that the cell can carry out complex
chemical activities at a relatively low temperature.
Most enzymes are proteins and their 3-dimensional shape is important to their catalytic activity.
Two specific regions on the enzyme structure play an important role in catalytic activity: the
active site and the allosteric site. The active site is the area of the enzyme which binds to the
substance(s) (substrate) and aids in the chemical reaction. The allosteric site is involved in
forming the proper 3-dimensional shape when linked with specific cofactors. As a result of the
unique characteristics of these sites, enzymes are highly specific in terms of the reactions they
will catalyze and the condition under which they work best.
In biochemical reactions the enzyme, combines reversibly with its specific substrate, to form an
enzyme-substrate complex. One result of this temporary union is a reduction in the energy
required to activate the reaction of the substrate molecule so that the products of the reaction,
are formed.
This can be summarized in the equation:
Enzyme + Substrate → Enzyme-Substrate Complex → Enzyme + Product
Note that the enzyme is not consumed in the reaction and can recycle to work with additional
substrate molecules. Each enzyme is specific for a particular reaction because its amino acid
sequence is unique which causes it to have a unique 3-dimensional structure. The active site is
the portion of the enzyme that interacts with the substrate, so that any substance that blocks or
changes the shape of the active site affects the activity of the enzyme.
In practice, this specificity permits one to mix a purified substrate with crude preparations of
enzyme that might contain many other substances and obtain a quantitative assay (analysis) of
the amount of enzyme present.
We will be working in this lab with a representative enzyme —
catalase. Catalase has a molecular weight of approximately
240,000 daltons and contains 4 polypeptide chains, each
composed of more than 500 amino acid monomers. This
enzyme occurs universally in aerobic organisms. One function
of catalase within cells is to prevent the accumulation of toxic
levels of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) formed as a by-product of
metabolic processes. Catalase might also take part in some of
the many oxidation reactions going on in all cells.
The primary reaction catalyzed by catalase is the
decomposition of H2O2 to form water and oxygen.
2 H2O2 → 2 H2O + O2 (gas) The catalase that works in liver
and in red blood cells.
In the absence of catalase, this reaction occurs spontaneously,
but very slowly. Catalase speeds up the reaction considerably.
In this experiment, a rate for this reaction will be determined.

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Much can be learned about enzymes by studying the kinetics (changes in rate) of enzyme-
catalyzed reactions. For example, it is possible to measure the amount of product formed, or the
amount of substrate used, from the moment the reactants are brought together until the reaction
has stopped.
So let’s look at a hypothetical example:
An enzyme and its substrate are mixed in a reaction vessel. If the amount of product formed is
measured at 30 second intervals and this quantity plotted on a graph, a curve like the one in
Figure 1 is obtained:
Figure 1. Enzyme Activity

40

30
Product
(µmoles) 20

10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time (minutes)

Observe the solid line for this reaction. At time 0 there is no product. After 30 seconds, 5 µmoles
have been formed; after 1 minute, 10; after 2 minutes 20. The rate of reaction could be given as
10 µmoles of product formed per minute for this initial period. Note, however, that by the 3rd and
4th minutes only about 5 additional µmoles of product have been formed. During the first 3
minutes, the rate is constant. From the 3rd minute through the 8th minute, the rate is changing—
it is slowing down. For each successive minute after the first 3 minutes, the amount of product
formed in that interval is less than in the preceding minute. From the 7th minute onward, the
reaction rate is very slow.
In the comparison of kinetics of one reaction with another, a common reference point is needed.
For example, suppose you wanted to compare the effectiveness of catalase obtained from
potato with that of catalase obtained from liver. Would you want to compare the two reactions
during the first few minutes when the rate is constant or later when the rates are changing?
Answer: It is best to compare the reactions when the rates are constant.
In the first few minutes of an enzymatic reaction such as this, the number of substrate
molecules is usually so large compared to the number of enzyme molecules that the enzyme is
constantly having successful collisions with substrate. Therefore, during this early period, the
enzyme is acting on substrate molecules at a constant rate (as fast as it can). The slope of a
graphed line during this early period is called the initial velocity of the reaction. The initial
velocity (or rate) of any enzyme-catalyzed reaction is determined by the characteristics of the
enzyme molecule. It is always the same for a specific enzyme and its substrate as long as
temperature and pH are constant and the substrate is present in excess.

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The initial rate of the reaction, therefore is the slope of the linear portion of the curve. To
determine a rate, pick any two points on the straight-line portion of the curve. Divide the
difference in the amount of product formed between these two points by the difference in time
between them. The result will be the rate of the reaction which, if properly calculated, can be
expressed as µmoles of product/second. This equation is:

µmoles2 - µmole1
t2 – t1

In the graph shown as Figure 1:

30 – 20 = 10 = 0.17 µmoles/second
180 – 120 60
The rate of a chemical reaction may be studied in a number of ways, including the following:
1. Measuring the rate of disappearance of substrate, in this example, H2O2
2. Measuring the rate of appearance of product, in this example, O2, which is
given off as a gas.
3. Measuring the heat released (or absorbed) during the reaction.
In this experiment, the disappearance of substrate, H2O2, and the generation of product, O2, are
measured.

Materials:
Obtain the following materials:
• 50mL beaker containing fresh • hot plate
catalase (yeast) solution
• ice
• reaction chamber
• thermometer
• ring stand & clamp
• boiled catalase
• 10mL graduated cylinder
• buffers of varying pH: 4, 7, 10
• 100mL graduated cylinder
• distilled water
• 3% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)
• balance
• pan (water bath)
• NaCl (salt)
• pipette

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General Lab Procedure:

1. Work as a lab group of 3-4 members. Each lab group will complete Part A and Part B of the
lab. Your teacher will assign on an additional activity to each group form Parts C, D, E & F.
2. At your lab bench you will find a round vial with a rubber stopper top. This is called the
reaction chamber. You will also find a 100mL graduated cylinder, ring stand and clamp,
and a plastic pan which will be used as a water bath. All of this equipment needs to be
assembled into our experimental apparatus, as described and illustrated below.
3. Fill the pan 3/4 full of tap water. Allow the water to come to room temperature.
4. Submerge the 100mL graduated cylinder to fill it with water. Turn the graduated cylinder
upside down, keeping the open end under water, so as to keep it filled with water. Suspend
it upside down in the clamp on the ring stand. Adjust the height of the clamp on the ring
stand so the open end of the graduated cylinder is about 3cm above the bottom of the pan.
See diagram below.
5. Place a thermometer in the pan and record the temperature
of the water, during Part A of the lab. _____________°C
6. When all sections of the lab are complete, share the data with the class from your group’s
section. Each person must plot the data for all parts of the lab on his/her own graph paper.

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FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ACTIVITY OF CATALASE

Several enzymatic variables will be examined in this lab. You will be using the protein enzyme,
catalase. Catalase is found in most cells, even in single-celled eukaryotes like yeast. In this lab,
you will extract catalase from a yeast solution and test its catalytic effectiveness on hydrogen
peroxide. Catalase speeds up the breakdown of peroxides which may form during respiration
(metabolic energy production). This breakdown prevents the peroxide from causing unwanted
oxidation of important biomolecules:
2 H2O2 → 2 H2O + O2 (gas)
We will measure enzyme activity by measuring the generation of oxygen gas — a
product in the reaction.

Part A. The Time Course of Enzyme Activity

1. Set up the experimental apparatus as illustrated and described above.
2. Obtain a reaction chamber.
3. Obtain a bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solution and a 10mL graduated cylinder.
4. Obtain a small amount of stock catalase (yeast) solution in a 50mL beaker. You will
need 1.0mL of yeast solution for each trial. When you are ready, you will add it to the vial
with a plastic pipette.
5. Pour 10mL of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into the reaction chamber. Pipette in 1.0mL of
stock catalase solution (yeast solution) and IMMEDIATELY stopper the reaction
chamber tightly, submerge it in the water bath and place the plastic tubing into the
bottom of the graduated cylinder, so all the bubbles formed in the reaction chamber are
captured by the inverted graduated cylinder.
6. Measure the gas levels in the graduated cylinder at 30-second intervals for 5 minutes.
Record the levels in a data table of your own design.
7. Plot the data on a graph. Don’t forget to label your axes and title your graph.

Part B. The Effect of Enzyme Concentration on Enzyme Activity

1. Repeat the experiment from Part A, using 3 different levels of enzyme concentration:
75%, 50%, and 25% concentration of enzyme solution. You may easily do this by using
the following procedures:
a. 75% concentration: Follow the procedure from Part A, but use 0.75mL catalase
solution in the reaction chamber, instead of 1.0mL.
b. 50% concentration: Follow the procedure from Part A, but use 0.50mL catalase
solution in the reaction chamber, instead of 1.0mL.
c. 25% concentration: Follow the procedure from Part A, but use 0.25mL catalase
solution in the reaction chamber, instead of 1.0mL.
2. Record all data in a data table of your own design.
3. Plot the data on the same graph as Part A. Don’t forget to clearly label the enzyme
concentrations on your plotted lines.

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Part C. The Effect of Temperature on Enzyme Activity

1. Repeat the experiment from Part A (5 minute runs with 1mL catalase solution), using 3
different temperatures: 5°C, 37°C, and 100°C (boiled catalase). You may easily do this
by using the following procedures:
a. 5°C: Set up your reaction vessel and water bath and add ice to the water bath so
that it is chilled to 5°C for 5 minutes before running the experiment. Keep adding
ice to keep the temperature at 5°C or colder.
b. 37°C: Set up your reaction vessel and water bath with heated water so that it is
warmed to 37°C for 5 minutes before running the experiment. Keep adding hot
water to keep the temperature at 37°C.
c. 100°C (boiled catalase): We can’t use a water bath of boiling water since that
may injure a student, so instead of keeping the reaction vessel in boiling water
during the experiment, we will instead boil the catalase solution for 5 minutes.
Then after the catalase solution has cooled you run the experiment in room
temperature water (but with already boiled catalase).
2. Record all data in a data table of your own design.
3. Plot the data on a new graph. Also plot on this graph the room temperature data
recorded in Part A. Don’t forget to clearly label your axes and plotted lines, and title your
graph.

Part D. The Effect of pH on Enzyme Activity

1. Repeat the experiment from Part A (5 minute runs with 1mL catalase solution), using 3
different hydrogen peroxide solutions at 3 different pH values: pH 4, pH 7, and pH 10.
You may easily do this by using the following procedures
a. pH 4: Make a 1.5% solution of H2O2 at pH4 by adding 5mL of H2O2 to 5mL of pH
4 buffer.
b. pH 7: Make a 1.5% solution of H2O2 at pH7 by adding 5mL of H2O2 to 5mL of pH
7 buffer.
c. pH 10: Make a 1.5% solution of H2O2 at pH10 by adding 5mL of H2O2 to 5mL of
pH 10 buffer.
2. Record all data in a data table of your own design.
3. Plot the data on a new graph. Don’t forget to clearly label your axes and plotted lines,
and title your graph.

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Part E. The Effect of Substrate Concentration on Enzyme Activity

1. Repeat the experiment from Part A (5 minute runs with 1mL catalase solution), using 4
different substrate concentrations: 0%, 0.3%, 1.5%, and 3.0%. You may easily do this by
using the following procedures
a. 0%: Use 10mL distilled water only.
b. 0.3%: Prepare this by adding 3mL of H2O2 to 7mL of distilled water.
c. 1.5%: Prepare this by adding 5mL of H2O2 to 5mL of distilled water.
d. 3.0%: This is the concentration of substrate from the original experiment in Part
A; just use this initial data.
2. Record all data in a data table of your own design.
3. Plot the data on a new graph. Don’t forget to clearly label your axes and plotted lines,
and title your graph.

Part F. The Effect of Ionic Concentration on Enzyme Activity

1. Repeat the experiment from Part A (5 minute runs with 1mL catalase solution), using 3
different ionic concentrations: 10% NaCl, 2% NaCl, and 0% NaCl. You may easily do
this by using the following procedures
a. 10% NaCl: Make a 1.5% solution of H2O2 containing 10% NaCl by dissolving 5g
of NaCl in 50mL of water then add 5mL of this solution to 5mL of H2O2.
b. 2% NaCl: Make a 1.5% solution of H2O2 containing 2% NaCl by dissolving 1g of
NaCl in 50mL of water then add 5mL of this solution to 5mL of H2O2.
c. 0% NaCl: Prepare this by adding 5mL of distilled water to 5mL of H2O2.
2. Record all data in a data table of your own design.
3. Plot the data on a new graph. Don’t forget to clearly label your axes and plotted lines,
and title your graph.

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QUESTIONS

1. What was the enzyme in this lab? _______________________________________________

2. What was the substrate in this lab? ______________________________________________

3. What was the product(s) in this lab? _____________________________________________

4. What variable was measured in this lab? _________________________________________

5. If you wanted to determine rate of enzyme activity from the data collected in this lab, how
would you do that?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

6. What are some good sources of the human enzyme catalase? ________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

7. Enzyme concentration
a. Summarize the effect of enzyme concentration on enzyme activity. Explain the
mechanisms that cause this effect.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

b. What would cause the rate of enzyme activity to level off on the enzyme concentration
graph?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

c. Draw an “idealized” graph to illustrate the relationship

between enzyme concentration and rate of enzyme
activity.

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8. Temperature
a. Summarize the effect of temperature on enzyme activity. Explain the mechanisms that
cause this effect.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

b. Explain the specific effect of boiling the enzyme.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

c. Draw an “idealized” graph to illustrate the relationship

between temperature and rate of enzyme activity.

d. What is the optimal temperature for human enzymes? ___________________________

9. pH
a. Summarize the effect of pH on enzyme activity. Explain the mechanisms that cause this
effect.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

b. Draw an “idealized” graph to illustrate the relationship

between pH and rate of enzyme activity.

c. Do all human enzymes function within the same

optimal pH range, like they do with temperature?
Explain.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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10. Substrate concentration

a. Summarize the effect of substrate concentration on enzyme activity. Explain the
mechanisms that cause this effect.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

b. What would cause the rate of enzyme activity to level off on the substrate concentration
graph?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

c. Draw an “idealized” graph to illustrate the relationship

between substrate concentration and rate of enzyme
activity.

11. Ion concentration

a. Summarize the effect of ion concentration on enzyme activity. Explain the mechanisms
that cause this effect.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

b. Draw an “idealized” graph to illustrate the relationship

between ion concentration and rate of enzyme
activity.

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12. After an enzyme is mixed with its substrate, the amount of product formed is determined at
10-second intervals for 1 minute. Data from this experiment are shown below.

Time (sec) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Product formed (mg) 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.70 0.80 0.85 0.85

a. What is the initial rate of this enzymatic reaction? _____________________________

Show your calculation:

b. What is the rate after 50 seconds? ________________________________________

Show your calculation:

c. Why is the rate after 50 seconds different from the initial rate?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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