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    Enzymes and Biochemistry

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    1. Tyrosinase is an enzyme that converts tyrosine into melanin, the pigment that gives skin, hair and eyes their color. It acts as a catalyst in the reaction and contains copper atoms at its active site that are considered cofactors. A sequence of the enzyme was provided and predicted to be located in the transmembrane domain based on its hydrophobic amino acids. 2. A biochemical pathway was shown that produces eumelanin and epinephrine from phenylalanine. If the enzyme AADC was removed, levels of phenylalanine would increase while tyrosine levels may increase or stay the same depending on regulation. Levels of norepinephrine, epinephrine, L-dop

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    Enzymes and Biochemistry

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    1. Tyrosinase is an enzyme that converts tyrosine into melanin, the pigment that gives skin, hair and eyes their color. It acts as a catalyst in the reaction and contains copper atoms at its active site that are considered cofactors. A sequence of the enzyme was provided and predicted to be located in the transmembrane domain based on its hydrophobic amino acids. 2. A biochemical pathway was shown that produces eumelanin and epinephrine from phenylalanine. If the enzyme AADC was removed, levels of phenylalanine would increase while tyrosine levels may increase or stay the same depending on regulation. Levels of norepinephrine, epinephrine, L-dop

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    enzymes and biochemistry

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    1. Tyrosinase is an enzyme that converts tyrosine into melanin, the pigment that gives skin, hair and eyes their color. It acts as a catalyst in the reaction and contains copper atoms at its active site that are considered cofactors. A sequence of the enzyme was provided and predicted to be located in the transmembrane domain based on its hydrophobic amino acids. 2. A biochemical pathway was shown that produces eumelanin and epinephrine from phenylalanine. If the enzyme AADC was removed, levels of phenylalanine would increase while tyrosine levels may increase or stay the same depending on regulation. Levels of norepinephrine, epinephrine, L-dop

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    85 views4 pages

    Enzymes and Biochemistry

    Uploaded by

    api-709276885
    1. Tyrosinase is an enzyme that converts tyrosine into melanin, the pigment that gives skin, hair and eyes their color. It acts as a catalyst in the reaction and contains copper atoms at its active site that are considered cofactors. A sequence of the enzyme was provided and predicted to be located in the transmembrane domain based on its hydrophobic amino acids. 2. A biochemical pathway was shown that produces eumelanin and epinephrine from phenylalanine. If the enzyme AADC was removed, levels of phenylalanine would increase while tyrosine levels may increase or stay the same depending on regulation. Levels of norepinephrine, epinephrine, L-dop

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    Signature Assignment 3: Proteins and Biochemistry

    1. Tyrosinase is an enzyme that helps convert tyrosine into melanin, the pigment in our skin, hair,
    and eyes. This is one of the steps in that pathway. In the chemical reaction below, circle the
    reactant, put a box around the product, and draw a star (or asterisk) next to the enzyme.

    a. Is tyrosinase being chemically changed during this reaction?


    No, tyrosinase is not being chemically changed because it acts as a catalyst .

    b. Tyrosinase contains two copper atoms at the active site. Are these copper atoms
    considered cofactors or coenzymes?
    Cofactors
    c. Part of the amino acid sequence of tyrosinase is below. Fill in the table using the provided
    amino acid chart (it is on last page of this document).

    Trp-Leu-Leu-Gly-Ala-Ala-Met-Val-Gly-Ala-Val-Leu

    Ami
    no Trp Leu Leu Gly Ala Ala Met Val Gly Ala Val Leu
    Acid
    Type
    of
    amin
    o acid
    (nonp nonp nonp nonp nonp nonp nonp nonp nonp nonp nonp nonp nonp
    olar, olar olar olar olar olar olar olar olar olar olar olar olar
    polar,
    charg
    ed
    +/-)

    a. After filling in the table, do you predict that this region of the enzyme is hydrophilic or
    hydrophobic? Why?

    Hydrophobic, because nonpolar amino acids are water-repelling.


    Figure by Melissa Hardy, created using BioRender.com

    b. Tyrosinase is a membrane protein, meaning part of the enzyme spans a phospholipid bilayer
    (see figure below). Where do you think the sequence above is located in the protein?
    [extracellular domain/transmembrane domain/intracellular domain]. Explain your reasoning.

    Transmembrane

    Because hydrophobic amino acids are generally located in the transmembrane domain.

    c. Many proteins span the phospholipid bilayer in a α-helix formation. The α-helix is a region of
    local structure based on hydrogen bonding. What level of protein structure is an α-helix?

    Secondary structure

    d. Each amino acid adds 1.5 Å (Angstrom, a unit of measurement equal to 10 -10 meters) to the α-
    helix. The phospholipid bilayer of the membrane is about 30 Å thick. How many amino acids
    would you expect to be part of the transmembrane domain (the part spanning the
    phospholipid bilayer)?

    30/ 1.5 = 20

    20 amino acids would be part of the transmembrane domain.

    e. Imagine a mutation occurred that resulted in an enzyme that was totally unable to bind
    tyrosine. If a cat only had this type of enzyme that was unable to bind tyrosine, what do you
    think the cat would look like?

    The cat would look albino.


    2. The biochemical pathway shown below includes the production of eumelanin and epinephrine
    from phenylalanine (an essential amino acid).

    Figure by Melissa Hardy, public domain

    a. Predict what would happen to the levels of each substance if you were to remove the
    enzyme AADC (Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase) from a cell.

    Substance Increase/Decrease/Stay the same


    phenylalanine increase
    might stay the same or increase depending on
    tyrosine
    the regulation of the enzyme
    norepinephrine decrease

    epinephrine decrease

    L-dopachrome decrease

    eumelanin decrease
    Adapted from Amino Acids by Dancojocari and used under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.

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