Enzymes

Enzymes are biological catalysts that accelerate the rate of biochemical reactions. Most enzymes are proteins, made up of amino acids; while some are RNA molecules known as ribozymes.

Enzymes act by lowering the activation energy of a reaction, thereby increasing the reaction rate. They can catalyze both synthesis and breakdown of chemical bonds, but do not affect the direction or equilibrium of the reaction.

Each enzyme binds to a specific reactant, called the substrate, and catalyzes a particular reaction. The substrate binds to a distinct catalytic region of the enzyme called the active site through interactions such as intermolecular forces and transient covalent bonds, resulting in an enzyme-substrate complex.

This binding is highly specific due to the conformational complementarity required between the enzyme and its substrate. Thus, a particular enzyme can only catalyze specific reactions based on its conformation.

A simple way of understanding complex formation is the lock-and-key model, which hypothesizes that the substrate fits into the enzyme's active site, analogous to a 'key' fitting into its corresponding 'lock'.

However, another model, the induced-fit model, takes in