Question

Why is it that an inhibitor induced increase in Km (so higher Km for a reaction) mean that the enzyme will be inhibited at low substrate concentrations?

Answer 1

Enzyme inhibitor are of following types:-

A)Competitive inhibitors can bind to E but not to ES. It increases Km but does not affect Vmax.

B) Uncompetitive inhibitors bind to ES. It decreases both Km Vmax.

C) Non-competitive inhibitors have identical affinities for E and ES. It does not change Km but decreases Vmax.

D) Mixed-type inhibitors bind to both E and ES, but their affinities for these two forms of the enzyme are different. Thus it increase Km and decrease Vmax.