The high specificity of an enzyme for its substrate is due to
- A. the shape and chemistry of its active site
- B. its molar mass
- C. the temperature of the reaction
- D. the concentration of the substrate
Explanation
Only a substrate whose shape and charge distribution complement the active site can bind, which is why sucrase acts on sucrose but not on the closely related maltose. The induced fit model refines this picture by allowing the site to mould itself around the substrate as binding occurs. Specificity is a structural property and is unaffected by temperature or concentration.
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