Final answer:
Enzymes are most effective as proteins due to the structural diversity and flexibility proteins offer. This allows enzymes to be highly specific to their substrates and to undergo necessary conformational changes for catalysis and regulation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Two Reasons Why Enzymes are Suited as Proteins
Enzymes are vital biomolecules that greatly accelerate the rates of chemical reactions necessary for life. Two main reasons justify why enzymes are best suited as proteins instead of other macromolecules like carbohydrates. Firstly, proteins offer a remarkable structural diversity due to the 20 different amino acids that can combine in a variety of sequences to form enzymes. This diversity is critical for enzymes to achieve their incredible specificity, where each enzyme is tailored to catalyze a particular reaction or set of reactions with a specific substrate. Secondly, the flexibility of protein structures allows enzymes to undergo conformational changes required to bind substrates at their active sites and perform catalysis efficiently. This flexibility also enables substances within cells to modify enzyme activity, a mechanism known as allosteric regulation. Unlike carbohydrates, which lack the necessary diversity and flexibility, proteins can form the intricate shapes and possess the dynamism essential for enzymatic function.