How is the tertiary structure of an enzyme important to its function?

The tertiary structure involves four types of bonds being made between secondary alpha helices or beta pleated sheets. These are disulfide bridges, hydrophilic/hydrophobic bonds, ionic bonds and hydrogen bonds. These bonds determine the enzyme's overall 3D shape, including that of the active site. For the enzyme to work, according to the induced fit model, the shape of the active site must be exactly complementary to the shape of the substrate, in order to form an enzyme-substrate complex. If the tertiary structure is altered, an enzyme-substrate complex cannot be formed, and the enzyme is said to be denatured.

JB

Related Biology A Level answers

All answers ▸

Describe the five stages of phagocytosis of a bacterium by a neutrophil


Describe how the sequence of bases in a DNA molecule would be used to form the primary structure of a protein.


How is DNA made into protein?


Describe the lac operon, and it's transcriptional control when the concentration of glucose is low, and the concentration of lactose is high.