You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: How does increasing the temperature affect the rate of reaction?
So what happens to say the reaction of a biological enzyme such as human DNA Polymerase delta, if I were to raise its reaction temperature to say 57 C and measure its functional catalytic rate of copying DNA? Does it too go faster?
What a great question. My best answer would be that as DNA polymerase is a protein and proteins get denatured above 45 C, then the reaction would not work. Therefore no rate of reaction. I will be doing a basic catalyst experiment soon. I will try to do a separate experiment that also looks at temperature with a biological catalyst.
You are correct, though if the polymerase we're to remain folded, as with other reactions it's rate of catalysis would speed up.
In the polymerase chain reaction use for amplifying DNA in molecular biology, special thermostable DNA polymerases are used, from organisms that thrive in extremely high temperatures, these polymerases do not unfold as easily, some having stability up to 100 C.
As I read your response, I can't help but think about what temperatures biological proteins can survive? In particular, could a "hitchhiker" survive the hot temperature of a meteorite entering our atmosphere? I am sure this question has been tested somewhere/sometime.