Enzyme Catalysis

The speeding up of a process by a biological molecule called an "enzyme" is known as enzyme catalysis. Most enzymes are proteins, and most of these processes are chemical ones. Typically, the active site of an enzyme is where catalysis takes place. The majority of enzymes are primarily composed of proteins, either in the form of a single protein chain or several such chains arranged in a multi-subunit complex. Non-protein elements like metal ions or specialised chemical molecules known as cofactors are frequently included in enzymes (e.g. adenosine triphosphate). Many cofactors are vitamins, and their function as vitamins is intimately related to their usage in the catalysis of biological processes within metabolism. Biochemical reactions in the cell must be catalysed since many, but not all, of these processes are exceedingly slow without a catalyst. Although only the most important enzymes operate near catalytic efficiency limitations and many enzymes are far from optimum, the optimization of such catalytic activity is one of the driving forces behind protein evolution. General acid-base catalysis, orbital steering, entropic restriction, orientation effects (such as lock-and-key catalysis), motional effects involving protein dynamics, and entropic restriction are all significant variables in enzyme catalysis.