Inhibition and Inhibitors
MCAT Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems · Learn by Concept
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MCAT Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems › Inhibition and Inhibitors
Chymotrypsin is a proteolytic enzyme that is released by the pancreas. Using a water molecule, it cleaves the traget polypeptide and creates the new N and C termini for the newly made fragments.
Suppose an inhibitor interacts with chymotrypsin. If the inhibitor acts by noncovalently binding to chymotrypsin, and only decreases its maximum catalytic rate, what type of inhibitor is being used?
Noncompetitive inhibitor
Competitive inhibitor
Mixed inhibitor
Suicide inhibitor
Explanation
We are told that the inhibitor binds noncovalently, so suicide inhibitors are not an option. Since the inhibitor only affects the catalytic rate of the enzyme, and not the Michaelis constant, we can say that the inhibitor is following a mechanism such as that of a noncompeitive inhibitor.