Question

Are enzymes used up in reactions?

Answer 1

Hint: Let us first understand what enzymes are. So basically, an enzyme is a substance that works as a catalyst in living organisms, controlling the pace at which chemical processes take place while remaining unaffected. All biological activities in living creatures involve chemical reactions, and enzymes regulate the majority of them. Many of these chemical processes would not occur at all if enzymes weren't present in the living organisms.

Complete answer:
The majority of enzymes are proteins. These are proteins with catalytic properties and they are required to carry out various operations. They are essential for life and they carry out metabolic processes and other chemical reactions in the cell. During these, enzymes react with a substance and this substance is termed as substrate. And then the enzymes transform these substances called substrates into new compounds and we now call them products.
Enzymes can be thought of as metabolic reaction catalysts. And, we know very well that catalysts are not used up in reactions. This is because they do not participate in the process itself, but what they do is rather give a lower-activation-energy alternative reaction pathway. The same goes for enzymes.
So, the answer is No, enzymes are not used up in a reaction.
Enzymes are not used up in reactions. They are rather reused.

Note:
It can be noted that most of the enzymes are proteins. Polypeptide chains are long chains of amino acids and these are what make up a big protein enzyme molecule. The amino acid sequence of proteins is what dictates the protein's structure's distinctive folding patterns, which is critical for enzyme specificity. If the enzyme is exposed to changes in temperature or pH, the protein structure may be denatured, and the enzyme's enzymatic activity may be lost.