Question

Acetylcholinesterase is an enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

Which of the following explains why acetylcholinesterase cannot be used to catalyze the breakdown of other neurotransmitters, like norepinephrine?

A. Binding with an alternate neurotransmitter would inhibit the reaction of the enzyme with acetylcholine.
B. Its shape determines the neurotransmitters that can reach its active center where activation energy is lowered.
C. It would require a level of activation energy too high for acetylcholinesterase to react with other neurotransmitters.
D. Reacting with another neurotransmitter would halt the production of the enzyme and raise the overall activation energy.

Answer 1

b

Step-by-step explanation:

person above me was correct

Answer 2

The most appropriate answer would be B. Its shape determines the neurotransmitters that can reach its active center where activation energy is lowered.

Most of the enzymes are highly specific in nature that is, they recognize a particular substrate or a group of substrate.

This specificity is mainly achieved by the interactions taken place between substrate and the active site of an enzyme.

• In most cases, the active site of the enzyme binds only to a specific substrate.
• In addition, shape of the substrate complements the shape of the active site of an enzyme as also observed in case of lock (enzyme) and a key (substrate).
• The specificity is also achieved by induced fit method in which specific substrate brings about some conformational changes in the active site. Consequently, the substrate gets fitted in the active site.

Similarly, in case of acetylcholinesterase (enzyme) also, the shape of the enzyme determines the neurotransmitter (substrate) that can reach its active center or active site where the activation energy is lowered.