6. Glossary

catalyst

Chemical or biological molecule that accelerates a given reaction without altering the final equilibrium at the end of the reaction.

enzyme

Protein catalyst enabling a chemical reaction to take place under physicochemical conditions compatible with living organisms.

active site

A set of amino acids that come into contact with the substrate, so that the latter can be transformed. Weak bonds are established between the two partners so that the reaction can take place. The active site is made up of the binding site and the catalytic site; the binding site is responsible for substrate specificity and the catalytic site for reaction specificity.

Michaelis and Menten kinetics

Simple kinetics...