Potato Enzyme Lab

The role of enzymes play a large role in the survival of organisms through catalysis of reactions that keep them alive and functioning. The purpose of this experiment was to measure reaction activity over time and how substrate concentration affects their activity level. A supernatant was made through the dilution of blended potato extract. Then the supernatant was mixed with catechol and the reaction rate was measured in units of absorbance through a spectrophotometer every 30 seconds for ten minutes. The results supported the prediction that enzyme activity slows down over time. The next experiment done was to measure the effect of substrate concentrations. P-nitrophenol was diluted in distilled water to concentrations of 10mM, 8mM, 6mM, …show more content…
The prediction for enzyme activity was that enzyme activity would begin fast and then gradually decrease. This was tested with catechol oxidase and catechol and resulted in a trend that increased then slowed down over the course of ten minutes. The other experiment was to test the rate of enzyme activity with different substrate levels over the course of five minutes. The prediction stated that the initial reaction rate will increase with substrate concentration. The results supported the hypothesis by presenting an increase in mole product over time as substrate levels …show more content…
Each concentration of p-nitrophenol was measured in units of absorbance on the spectrophotometer at 410nm (Figure 2). Then p-nitrophenolphosphate was diluted with distilled water in concentrations of 10mM, 8mM, 6mM, 4mM, 2mM, and a blank. They were then mixed with 1ml of acid phosphotase, 1ml of p-nitrophenolphospate, 1ml of citrate buffer. Then 3mL of NaOH were added to each dilution and were measured on the spectrophotometer in units of absorbance at 410nm. The mole product was calculated using the standard curve and plotted on the graph. (Figure