1.
activation energy: The energy needed to start a reaction.
2.
active site: The region of an enzyme at which the substrate attaches itself.
3.
allosteric reaction: A case in which a protein's function at one site is affected by the binding of a regulatory molecule to a separate site.
4.
anabolic pathway: This consumes energy to build complicated molecules from simpler ones; they are sometimes called biosynthetic pathways.
5.
ATP: A source of energy. Contains the sugar ribose, with the nitrogenous base adenine and a chain of three phosphate groups bonded to it.
6.
catabolic pathway: This is a break down pathway.
7.
chemical energy: This refers to the potential energy available for release in a chemical reaction.
8.
coenzyme: If the cofactor is an organic molecule, it is more specifically called this.
9.
cofactor: This may be bound tightly to the enzyme as a permanent resident, or bind loosely and reversibly along with the substrate.
10.
competitive inhibitor: This mimic reduces the productivity of enzymes by blocking substrates from entering active sites.
11.
cooperativity: This mechanism amplifies the response of enzymes to substrates.
12.
endergonic reaction: A reaction that absorbs energy.
13.
energy: The capacity to cause change.
14.
energy coupling: The use of an exergonic process to drive an endergonic one.
15.
entropy: Disorder, or randomness
16.
enzyme-substrate complex: When the enzyme binds to its substrate or substrates.
17.
exergonic reaction: A net release of free energy.
18.
feedback inhibition: A metabolic pathway is switched off by the inhibitory binding of its end product to an enzyme that acts early in the pathway.
19.
first law of thermodynamics: Energy can be transferred and transformed, but it cannot be created or destroyed.
20.
free energy: The portion of a system's energy that can perform work when temperature and pressure are uniform throughout the system, as in a living cell.
21.
heat or thermal energy: Kinetic energy as associated with the random movement of atoms or molecules.
22.
induced fit: This brings chemical groups of the active site into positions that enhance their ability to catalyze the chemical reaction.
23.
kinetic energy: The relative motion of an object.
24.
metabolic pathway: This begins with a specific molecule, which is then altered in a series of defined steps, resulting in a certain product.
25.
metabolism: The totality of an organism's chemical reactions is called this.
26.
noncompetitive inhibitor: This impedes enzymatic reactions by binding to another part of the enzyme.
27.
phosphorylated: The recipient of a phosphate group from ATP.
28.
potential energy: Energy that matter possesses because of its location or structure.
29.
second law of thermodynamics: Every energy transfer or transformation increases the entropy of the universe.
30.
substrate: The reactant an enzyme act on on.
31.
thermodynamics: The study of the energy transformations that occur in a collection of matter.
