Enzymes are proteins produced by all living organisms. They are biological catalysts which are responsible for all chemical reactions in nature. When your body wants to transform food such as starch in bread or pasta into energy enzymes are used to convert the starch to simple sugars which can be used by your cells.

If the body is unable to make enough digestive enzymes, food molecules cannot be digested properly. This can lead to digestive disorders like lactose intolerance. Thus, eating foods that are high in natural digestive enzymes can help improve digestion.

Enzyme applications Enzymes are used to make and improve nearly 400 everyday consumer and commercial products. They are used in foods and beverages processing, animal nutrition, textiles, household cleaning and fuel for cars and energy generation.

pH: Each enzyme has an optimum pH range. Changing the pH outside of this range will slow enzyme activity. Extreme pH values can cause enzymes to denature. Enzyme concentration: Increasing enzyme concentration will speed up the reaction, as long as there is substrate available to bind to.

Enzyme activity is said to be maximum in the pH between 5 and 7. Some enzymes, on the other hand, prefer a more drastic pH having an optimum pH of 1.7 to 2. In some other cases, the pH optima depends on where it is found. The optimum temperature of enzymes is said to be between 20-35°C.

Salt increases the apparent maximal velocity of the reaction and decreases the affinity of oxalacetate for the enzyme. At NaCl concentrations in- hibitory to reduction of oxalacetate, the kinetics is that of competitive inhibition.

Proteins are usually more soluble in dilute salt solutions because the salts in their ionic forms associate with opposite charges within the protein moiety, leading to increased hydration of the surface. Salts strip off the essential layer of water molecules from the protein surface eventually denaturing the protein.

However, to retain their activities, enzymes require certain amounts of bound water within their structures. Furthermore, water can act as a modifier of the SCF and, therefore, it can improve the polarity of the solvent and thus the solubility of the reactants as well as those of the products.

By attaching a number of detergent molecules to traditional enzymes, scientists have managed to create an enzyme liquid (without water) that still allows the folded proteins to catalyze the reactions of life.

It is found that regardless of the type of reaction, the functionality of enzyme itself is maximum at an optimum level of water, beyond which the enzyme performance is declined due to the loss in enzyme stability.

For all enzymes and solvents tested, the enzymatic activity greatly increased upon an increase in the water content in the solvents (which always remained below the solubility limit). Much less water was required to reach the maximal activity in hydrophobic solvents than in their hydrophilic counterparts.

II. Enzymes should be diluted for use with an ice-cold buffer or distilled water, as appropriate for the enzyme.