In laboratory 4 we studied how enzyme activity is affected by environmental conditions. Enzymes permit cells to carry out the many functions that are required in a living system. Every enzyme has a specific substrate and a specific function. They change their substrate in one of two ways: either by dehydration synthesis (a monomer is added to another molecule) or hydrolysis (a monomer is removed from another molecule). Each enzyme has a unique conformation that enables them to perform their specialized tasks. The substrate molecule meets the enzyme at the active site, where the reaction takes place and the substrate is altered. The conformation of a particular enzyme depends on several levels of protein structure. First is sequence of amino acids or the primary structure. The attraction between these molecules is usually expressed as hydrogen bonds. The secondary structure is characterized by a unique sequence on hydrogen bonds between more distant molecules on the chain. In this lab we saw changes in the effectiveness of the enzymes when the secondary structure of the enzymes is altered. Tertiary and Quaternary structures describe successively larger parts of a protein, influenced by other electrostatic bonds. Enzymes possess an affinity for their substrate. We observed the enzyme catechol oxidase and how it is affected by temperature. Test tubes of catechol oxidase of various temperatures were inserted into a spectrometer to determine the amount of enzyme activity. The <b>...</b>