Final answer:
Enzymes are known as biocatalysts because they speed up biochemical reactions in living organisms without being consumed, enabling life to exist under mild conditions by lowering the activation energy needed for these reactions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Enzymes are referred to as biocatalysts because they are organic compounds, primarily proteins, that catalyze biochemical reactions in living organisms.
These reactions would typically occur very slowly or not at all at the mild temperatures found within organisms, making life as we know it impossible without these vital catalysts. Enzymes operate by lowering the activation energy for a reaction to take place, thus significantly speeding it up.
An interesting point about enzymes is that they are not consumed in the reaction; instead, they can act repeatedly on multiple molecules of substrate.
Enzymes are specific in their action, meaning each type of enzyme is tailored to react with a specific substrate, forming an enzyme-substrate complex, a concept described in models such as the lock and key and induced fit models.
Role of Enzymes in Metabolism
Enzymes play a critical role in metabolism by facilitating most of the metabolic reactions within living organisms under physiological conditions.
This is essential because the mild conditions within organisms do not typically favor the spontaneous occurrence of these reactions at a rate sufficient for life processes. Because of their pivotal role, enzymes are used in a variety of applications beyond the body, including the food and dairy industry, biofuel production, and paper manufacturing, among others.