Final answer:
The acceleration of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction can be affected by changes in enzyme or substrate concentrations. The reaction rate will increase with substrate concentration until a saturation point is reached. Similarly, enzyme concentration increases can boost the reaction rate when substrate is in excess.
Step-by-step explanation:
The rate of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction may be accelerated by increasing the enzyme concentration or substrate concentration. Initially, if the substrate concentration is low, increasing it will lead to an increase in the reaction rate. However, this rate increase only continues up to the point of saturation, where at so much substrate is present that every enzyme molecule active site is occupied. Beyond this saturation point, additional substrate does not further increase the reaction rate. If the enzyme concentration increases, the reaction rate will rise proportionally, assuming there is an excess amount of substrate available.
Effect of Substrate Concentration
At a constant enzyme concentration, raising the substrate concentration augments the rate of reaction up to the point of saturation. A hyperbolic curve on a plot of velocity versus substrate concentration illustrates this relationship. Beyond the saturation point, additional substrate won't increase the reaction rate as all the active sites are occupied.
Effect of Enzyme Concentration
Generally, the enzyme is present in lower concentration compared to the substrate, implying that when the enzyme concentration is increased, the reaction rate increases linearly. This is due to the higher probability of enzyme-substrate encounters, leading to more product formation, provided there is an abundance of substrate.