Becker's World of the Cell 9th Edition by Lewis Kleinsmith, Jeff Hardin, Gregory Paul Bertoni

Exercise 4

Temperature and pH Effects. Figure 6-4 illustrates enzyme activities as functions of temperature and pH. In general, the activity of a specific enzyme is highest at the temperature and pH that are characteristic of the environment in which the enzyme normally functions.
(a)Explain the shapes of the curves in Figure 6-4 in terms of the major chemical or physical factors that affect enzyme activity.
(b)For each enzyme in Figure 6-4, suggest the adaptive advantage of having the enzyme activity profile shown in the figure.
(c)Some enzymes have a very flat pH profile-that is, they have essentially the same activity over a broad pH range. How might you explain this observation