What is the effect of temperature on enzyme activity?

As temperature increases, the enzyme activity increases since the particles have more kinetic energy and collide more frequently; with a greater proportion of the collisions being successful and more enzyme-substrate complexes forming. This is the case until the optimum temperature of the enzyme is reached, where activity is at its highest.Beyond the optimum, the high temperatures cause some of the hydrogen and ionic bonds in the enzyme's tertiary structure to break, leading to a change in the shape of the active site of the enzyme. This means that the substrate is no longer complementary and cannot bind to the active site to form an enzyme- substrate complex, so the enzyme is said to be denatured.

Answered by Yasmin T. Biology tutor

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