효소: 생화학의 팩맨

팩맨처럼 효소는 기질에 맞는 특정 모양을 가지고 있으며 촉매 역할을 하며 변성될 수 있습니다.

### 생물학적 과정에서 효소의 역할
* 🎮 효소는 게임 속 조약돌처럼 **특정 모양의 활성 부위에 맞는 기질에 결합**하는 방식으로 팩맨에 비유할 수 있습니다.
* 🔬 효소는 기질을 구축하거나 분해하여 생성물을 형성함으로써 **화학 반응을 가속화하는 단백질**입니다.
* 🥛 락타아제는 유당을 소화 가능한 부분으로 분해하는 효소의 일종으로, **유당불내증 환자에게 매우 중요**합니다.
* ♻ 효소는 소모되지 않고 반응에 반복적으로 사용할 수 있는 **촉매제**입니다.
* 🔧 효소가 최적의 기능을 발휘하려면 **보조 인자 또는 보조 효소가 필수적인 조력자 역할**을 해야 할 수 있습니다.
* 🌡 효소는 최적의 기능을 위한 **특정 pH 및 온도 범위**가 있으며, 조건이 이상적인 범위에서 벗어나면 변성됩니다.
* 🏥 많은 질병이 효소 생산이나 기능의 장애를 수반하기 때문에 의학 연구는 종종 **효소에 초점을 맞추고 있습니다.**

Captions are on! Click CC at bottom right to turn off. Follow us on Twitter (@AmoebaSisters) and Facebook! Is it odd to have a favorite protein? Well…I don’t think so. Probably because my favorite protein happens
to remind me of one of my favorite childhood games: Pac-Man. If you haven’t played Pac-Man before, then
chances are…we are much, much older than you. But now you can play it on Google- just Google
Pac-Man—it’s a Google Doodle! Anyway, I digress. See, in Pac-Man, you have this little character. It goes around, finds these pebbles, and the
pebbles fit right into it. Well, a lot of illustrations that you will
find of enzymes happen to look, to us, a lot like Pac-Man. I remember P for Pac-Man and P for protein. Most enzymes are proteins. In the game we mentioned, these little pebbles
that Pac-Man goes after.

Well, enzymes have a specifically shaped area, called an active site, where items can bind, called substrates. It’s very specific binding because the active site is specifically shaped for the substrate that binds there. Very specific. So what happens when substrates bind to an enzyme? Well, usually the substrate is held there with weak bonds because it’s not going to stay there forever. Something called induced fit will happen, which means the active site can change its shape even more to bind that substrate perfectly. Like…an enzyme-substrate hug. The enzyme can either build up or break down the substrates that specifically bind to it, and we call the resulting item the product. An enzyme has the ability to really speed up reactions. Reactions that technically could happen on their own …but with the help of enzymes, they can be sped up to make processes effective for life. Let me give you a great real-life example. The enzyme lactase. Another really cool thing about enzymes is that they often end in -ase like lactase.

Many sugars, on the other hand, end in -ose,
and lactose is an example of a sugar. Lactose is a disaccharide, meaning it contains
two sugar molecules bound together. We don’t actually digest it so well in that
form. It’s big. The enzyme lactase has the ability to break
lactose into smaller parts that our body can digest, and this is a lot better option than
waiting for a chemical reaction with lactose to happen spontaneously. With lactase enzyme, lactose can be broken
down quickly and digested. Now there are some people that do not produce
enough lactase enzymes. They can be what we call lactose intolerant,
which means that consuming foods that have lactose, milk sugar, in them can make them
sick. They can’t break the lactose down efficiently
without lactase enzymes. Now in that example, one thing to point out---lactase,
the enzyme, can break down a lot of lactose,

the substrate. The lactase doesn’t get used up in the reaction. It’s still there. We call enzymes a catalyst because they can
be used over and over in the reaction. By the way, your digestive system uses all
kinds of enzymes. You have lipase that breaks down lipids- which
are fats. You have amylase which breaks down starch. You have protease which breaks down proteins. So as you can see, the digestive system is
very involved with enzymes. Another thing to point out is that enzymes
don’t always work alone. Sometimes they get some help. Some often underappreciated but essential
little helpers are called cofactors and coenzymes. They may bind to the substrate or to the active
site. They help the enzyme do its job of building
up or breaking down substrates into products. Now you didn’t forget our Pac-Man analogy
yet, right? In the game Pac-Man, there are these ghosts.

And when they touch Pac-Man, it makes this sound…it’s like…ner ner ner ner. The Pac-Man’s shape gets all distorted in the process. So what does this have to do with enzymes? No, there aren’t ghosts around. But enzymes do have certain ideal conditions that they like. For example, an enzyme that is in your stomach would have an ideal pH that is very acidic because the environment in your stomach is very acidic. Different enzymes have different ideal pH and temperature ranges. If an environment changes out of an enzyme’s ideal pH or temperature range, then something that reminds me a lot of that horrible sound I tried to make can happen. The enzyme becomes…denatured! That means its shape becomes distorted- it can no longer bind to its substrate. It can no longer work correctly. It is…finished. Well….that’s a dramatic end to enzymes. Keep in mind that if you have an interest in this topic, many medical researchers have

a large focus on enzymes. Enzymes regulate a lot of body processes,
and many diseases can involve specific enzyme production…or the lack of it. Well, that’s it for the Amoeba Sisters, and
we remind you to stay curious!

Enzymes (Updated)

Amoeba Sisters

팩맨을 닮은 효소는 기질 결합을 위한 특정 활성 부위를 가지고 있어 매우 특정한 상호작용을 할 수 있습니다.

기질과 효소의 결합은 활성 부위가 기질에 완벽하게 결합하기 위해 모양이 바뀌는 유도 결합을 초래합니다.

효소는 반응 속도를 높여 공정을 더 효과적으로 만드는 능력이 있으며, 실제 사례로 락타아제 효소를 들 수 있습니다.

소화에 있어 락타아제 효소의 역할

유당은 -오스로 끝나는 이당류로, 체내에서 잘 소화되지 않으며 이를 분해하려면 락타아제 효소가 필요합니다.

락타아제 결핍은 유당 불내증으로 이어져 유당이 함유된 음식을 섭취할 때 질병을 유발합니다.

락타아제, 리파아제, 아밀라아제, 프로테아제와 같은 효소는 소화 시스템에서 중요한 역할을 하며 보조 인자와 보조 효소의 도움을 받기도 합니다.

pH와 온도가 효소에 미치는 영향

효소가 제대로 작동하려면 팩맨을 만졌을 때 모양이 변형되는 것과 마찬가지로 특정 pH와 온도 조건이 필요합니다.

이러한 이상적인 조건에서 벗어나면 효소가 변성되어 기능을 상실할 수 있습니다.

이러한 변성은 효소가 더 이상 기질에 결합하여 효과적으로 작동할 수 없기 때문에 팩맨의 극적인 종말에 비유할 수 있습니다.

신체 과정을 조절하는 효소의 역할

효소는 신체 과정을 조절하는 데 중요한 역할을 하며, 효소의 생산 또는 부족은 많은 질병과 관련이 있을 수 있습니다.

이는 효소가 인간의 건강과 생리학에 미치는 중요한 영향을 강조합니다.