One Pocket, and It Never Runs Out

You'll learnhow a folded protein's shape builds an active site that fits one substrate.

An enzyme is a protein that speeds up a reaction without being used up, and almost all of it is scaffolding. The chemistry happens in one small folded groove — the active site — and everything the enzyme can do falls out of that pocket's shape. Twelve short steps; press Next for each one.

AP BIOLOGY · 12 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · ACTIVE SITE = A FOLDED POCKET · INDUCED FIT, NOT LOCK AND KEY · LOWERS E_a, NEVER ΔG · v5

enzyme · active site · induced fit

Before you start

What you're looking at

One folded enzyme drawn as a cartoon blob, with a small groove on its surface — the active site.

The question

Where on this big protein does the chemistry happen, and what decides that pocket's shape?

Step 1 / 12