In this video I discuss what are enzymes, the functions of enzymes and I also discuss what do enzymes do? I cover how enzymes work by describing the sucrase enzyme in action.






Transcript

What are enzymes? Let’s take a look.

So, for example, let’s say you were to eat something that had sugar in it. Well, in the intestine the sugar molecule, also known as sucrose, would encounter an enzyme called sucrase. And this sucrase molecule would come in and unbind the sugar molecule to its more basic components of glucose and fructose.

Enzymes are able to do this chemical reaction very quickly, so you can see they play an important part in our body. Each type of enzyme has a particular job, and most enzymes have only one job to do.

We have already seen that sucrase unbinds a sugar molecule, lipase, which is a digestive enzyme that breaks down fat molecules into fatty acids and monoglycerides.

Enzymes are protein molecules. And they have what is called an active site, which is a region where a substrate molecule binds to, the term substrate is used to describe a molecule that an enzyme is acts upon.

This process is sometimes described as a lock and key model. Once the enzyme and the substrate bind, pow! The chemical reaction occurs, and the enzyme has done its duty.

Timestamps
0:00 What are enzymes?
0:33 Lipase enzyme example
0:50 How enzymes work