Laboratory Notes for BIO 1003

© 30 August 1999, John H. Wahlert & Mary Jean Holland

Enzymes

Materials

• 3 water baths (40, 60, and 80 degrees C) with metal test tube racks
• 6 hot plates (with 400 ml beaker)

• 8   400 ml beakers with tap water
  1 in each ice bucket near 0 degrees C (2 beakers)
  1 on each hotplate with tap water and boiling chips (6 beakers)
• 6   250 ml beakers with tap water at room temperature
• 126 disposable test tubes (13 by 100 mm, holds about 8 ml), 21 per group

• potato extract (catecholase source): 4   60 ml brown bottles; 2 in each ice bucket
• catechol (substrate): 4   60 ml brown bottles; 2 in each ice bucket
• hydroquinone (substrate mimic): 4   60 ml brown bottles; 2 in each ice bucket
• 6 pH 2 buffer solution in 30 ml Wheaton dropper bottle
• 6 pH 4 buffer solution in 30 ml Wheaton dropper bottle
• 6 pH 6 buffer solution in 30 ml Wheaton dropper bottle
• 6 pH 7 buffer solution in 30 ml Wheaton dropper bottle
• 6 pH 8 buffer solution in 30 ml Wheaton dropper bottle
• 6 pH 10 buffer solution in 30 ml Wheaton dropper bottle
• 6 pH 12 buffer solution in 30 ml Wheaton dropper bottle

• 3 metal test tube racks, 1 for each water bath
• 2 ice buckets with ice chips
• boiling chips for each beaker on hot plate
• 2 small bottles of PTU crystals
• metal scoop for PTU crystals

Themes

• Catalysts speed up a chemical reaction and are not changed by it.
• Enzymes are proteins made by cells that function as catalysts.
• Enzymes are specific as to what reactants are accepted into the active site.
• Enzymes work effectively under specific physiological conditions: temperature, pH, and solutes present.

Return to Enzymes lab or Index.