EFFECT OF pH, TEMPERATURE AND CONCENTRATION ON ENZYME ACTIVITY

Enzymes are important biological catalysts that regulate and accelerate various biochemical reactions in living organisms. Their activity is highly influenced by environmental conditions such as pH, temperature, and substrate concentration. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of these factors on the activity of catalase enzyme extracted from potato tissue. Catalase was selected because of its ability to rapidly decompose hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen, which can be easily observed through bubble formation. Fresh potato extract was prepared by grinding potato tissue with distilled water followed by filtration. Hydrogen peroxide was used as the substrate for the experiment. Different pH conditions were maintained using buffer solutions, while temperature variations were created using cold, room temperature, and warm conditions. The effect of substrate concentration was studied by varying the amount of hydrogen peroxide while keeping the enzyme concentration constant. The observations revealed that catalase showed maximum activity at nearly neutral pH, whereas acidic and alkaline conditions reduced the reaction rate. Similarly, the enzyme exhibited optimum activity at moderate or room temperature, while higher temperatures caused a significant decline in activity due to denaturation of the enzyme structure. An increase in substrate concentration enhanced the reaction rate up to a certain limit, after which the increase became gradual because the active sites of the enzyme became saturated. The study clearly demonstrates that enzyme activity is strongly dependent on surrounding environmental conditions and that enzymes function most efficiently only within a specific optimum range. These findings highlight the importance of maintaining suitable physiological conditions for proper enzymatic reactions in biological systems. The experiment also provided a simple and effective understanding of enzyme kinetics and the factors affecting enzyme activity.