Enzyme Lab Report

Arianna Diazwightman - Biology Lab Report
PID - 5869132
Gabby Vazquez, Catalina Ortega, and Jerry
Lab Section 41 Table 5
Lemme Break It Down Ft. Amylase
The effects of temperature on the ability of an enzyme to break down starch.

Abstract

In this lab, the optimal environment for an enzyme was observed in bacterial and fungal amylase. An enzyme is a substance produced by a living organism that is coded by proteins to catalyze chemical reactions throughout the body. Enzymes are what make the chemical reactions in living organisms possible. Enzymes act as catalysts to reactions, they lower the activation energy needed for reactions. However, enzymes require particular environments to function, and without proper conditions, enzymes

This was performed by placing test tubes in different temperatures, each with starch and amylase, and then using iodine to test how much starch was hydrolyzed. This experiment was executed in order to understand that each enzyme has an optimal temperature and without that optimal temperature, that particular enzyme would not be able to catalyze any reactions properly. The primary goal of the lab was to understand that if an enzyme is in an environment that is too cold or hot the enzyme will denature, thus being unable to perform its function ( Alberte, et al., 2012 ) It was found that for bacterial amylase, the optimal temperature was 55 °C and in fungal amylase, the optimal temperature was 25 °C. These findings can be applied to a number of commercial applications, and actually, enzymes hold a great amount of industrial and commercial importance. In fact, pancreatic enzymes were patented in 1913, but were later replaced by enzymes from Bacillus subtilis in detergents. Known for being able to retain its shape in temperatures up to 60 °C, this made this enzyme very valuable in the detergent business. Enzymes are also widely used in the food and agricultural business, the chemical industry, analytical methods, pharmaceutical industry, and of course for medical research. Many of these enzymes come in the form of yeast, fungi and bacteria which makes research on these

Four test tubes were filled with 1% bacterial amylase and 30mL of .05M phosphate buffer solution. Then four test tubes were filled with 3% fungal amylase and 30mL of .05M phosphate buffer solution. The bacterial and fungal procedures were performed at different times. The bacterial amylase was tested first. The test tubes were then placed in baths of either 0, 25, 55, or 85 °C. They were allowed 5 minutes to acclimate. Then the results at 0 minutes were measured by using a pipette and placing 3 drops of the solution in a spot plate, along with 3 drops of iodine. Then the tube with just starch was mixed with the amylase. This was repeated at all the temperatures. Then the results were obtained using the same methods for the next ten minutes at intervals of two minutes. The whole process was then repeated again with the fungal amylase. Then the results were obtained by observing the spot plates that had the hydrolyzed starch and iodine. Using a color chart with a scale from 1-5 the data was translated into quantitative data, with a 1 meaning that the starch was completely hydrolyzed and a 5 meaning that no hydrolization had