Effect of Lead Ions On Bacterial and Fungal Amylase

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EFFECT OF LEAD IONS ON BACTERIAL AND FUNGAL AMYLASE

Amylases are enzymes, which hydrolyse starch into Maltose. There are two types of amylase:

Alpha amylase that degrades starch, which is a polysaccharide, into fragments 10 glucose residues long.

Beta Amylase breaks these down into maltose, which is a disaccharide of two glucose molecules joined together. Both enzymes work by hydrolysis of the glycosidic link in carbohydrates.

Enzyme amylase are produced from different sources but in my experiment I will be concerned with Bacterial and fungal amylase. Heavy metal ions cause inhibition of enzyme. Inhibition of an enzyme means either to slow down the rate of reaction, to increase the rate of reaction or both.

Inhibitors can slow the rate of reaction in various ways. One way is that it competes with the normal substrate for binding of active sites. . Once it is attached to an enzyme molecule it prevents the normal substrate from doing so. This is known as a competitive inhibition.

A quite different inhibition would be is when an inhibitor such as lead ions can attach itself permanently to the active site of the enzyme thereby excluding any