Lab Work - Foxy - Influence of physico-chemical conditions on enzymatic kinetics - Vi = f(pH)

Extract from 1st year STL syllabus:
Molecules in living organisms have specific structures and properties.
Highlight the role of physico-chemical conditions in maintaining protein folding (pH, temperature, ionic strength).

Scientific issue:
The specific recognition of the substrate by an enzyme, as well as its catalytic activity, is related to its three-dimensional structure.
Like any protein, this spatial folding is stabilized by disulfide bonds as well as non-covalent bonds (electrostatic, hydrogen) which, consequently, are sensitive to variations in physico-chemical conditions of the environment such as pH, temperature, and ionic strength.
A variation in pH, by altering the ionic state of the enzyme (and/or the substrate), will make it impossible to form the Enzyme-Substrate complex, and may even lead to denaturation of the enzyme.