Question

1. Lipase inhibitors such as pharmaceutical drugs bind to lipase and prevent lipid breakdown. Lipids can never bind to the enzyme. When person stops using the drugs the enzyme functions normally. Do the chemicals found in pharmaceutical drugs act as competitive or noncompetitive inhibitors? Explain in detail.

2.The offspring produced by mating a female horse with a male donkey is called a mule and is sterile. What type of reproductive isolation occurred and is it pre or post zygotic?

Answer 1

Lipase inhibitor such as penicillin act as competitive inhibitor. These inhibitor have structural similarity with the substrate of enzyme lipase. Hence, they have competition with lipase substrate to bind with active site of the enzyme. But the drugs sometimes act as competive inhibitor and some time as non competitive inhibitor. For example, penicillin act as competitive inhibitor and ketoconazole is an example of non competitive inhibition. Hence, chemicals found in the pharmaceutical drugs act as both competitive or non competitive inhibitor.