The Effect Of Temperature On Trypsin Enzymes

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Anthony Tribe                                                                                                            Biology Coursework

Biology Investigation:

The Effect Of Temperature On Trypsin Enzymes

Plan

Introduction

I am going to be conducting an experiment to find out how temperature effects the rate at which trypsin hydrolyses protein found in milk..  Trypsin is secreted by the pancreas of most warm blooded animals into the small intestine.  It is a biological catalyst, speeding up or slowing down the rate at which protein is broken down.  I will test how quickly the trypsin works at a series of different temperatures ranging from 10 to 90ºcetigrade

Hypothesis

I predict that the optimum temperature, that I am testing, that the trypsin will work at is 40ºc.  This is because 40ºc is nearest to the body temperature of warm blooded animals.  So the trypsin will be accustomed to working at this temperature. I also predict that when I test the trypsin at 90ºc it will not work at all.  This is because trypsin is a living enzyme, once it has been heated to 90ºc it probably will have denatured. It’s shape will have become distorted and the substrate (the protein in this case) will not fit into the active site.

I found the information that I have used for this prediction in the Co-ordinated Science 1 text book written by Christopher Lale, Ann Daniels and Mark Duke.

Lock and key theory

The lock and key theory is a simple theory explaining the way that an enzyme breaks up its substrate.  The active site is an area on the surface of an enzyme where the substrate binds to and then the enzyme helps break up the substrate.  An active site is for a specific substrate only and the shape of the active site is complimentary to the shape of the substrate.  The diagram below should help explain this.

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Safety

  • Wear safety goggles because it could be dangerous if any substances were to make contact with your eyes.
  • Have something ready to wipe up any spillage’s.
  • Make sure any cuts are covered up with plasters because it could be dangerous to have any substances enter your body through a cut.
  • Make sure there is some eyewash ready in case I get something in my eyes.
  • Handle heating equipment with care after use to avoid burns.
  • Tuck tie in so it doesn’t catch fire or get dipped in anything.
  • Pick up heated test tubes with a ...

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This is a good practical write up which include some good, reliable results. The graph was not included so the analysis is hard to comment on. 3 stars.