Question

Suppose that a certain drug company manufactured a compound that had nearly the same structure as a substrate for a certain enzyme but that could not be acted upon chemically by the enzyme. What type of interaction would the compound have with the enzyme

Answer 1

Answer: Reversible competitive inhibition

Explanation:

In the case of reversible competitive inhibition, an inhibitor molecule competes with the substrate for binding to the active site of the enzyme. The inhibitor blocks the active site of the enzyme. Thus the enzyme substrate complex do not form. The structure of the inhibitor is similar to the substrate thus also have the binding affinity with the enzyme. The process is reversible because the inhibitor will leave the enzyme it exerts no permanent effect on the enzyme.

The given situation is the example of reversible competitive inhibition as substrate remain unchanged and the enzyme was not able to act on the substrate chemically may be due to inhibition of the function of the enzyme.