Hypothesis: Our reagent, Malonate, is an inhibitor of the mitochondrial enzyme Succinate Dehydrogenase (SDH) that will bind to the active site of the enzyme and result in a decrease of enzyme activity. Justification: Any agent that interferes with enzyme activity is an inhibitor. Inhibitors can affect the catalysis and/or the binding of enzymes to substrate. Malonate is an inhibitor of SDH primarily because of its shape and function, as the shape is similar to that of succinate (Clark, 2009). Malonate binds at the same active site as succinate, thus competing with SDH, and therefore inhibiting a reaction, as the enzyme cannot act further once bound with malonate (Clark, 2009). Malonate is labeled as a competitive inhibitor, which is an inhibitor
