Describe the mechanism of feedback inhibition and the role this process plays in controlling enzyme activity

What will be an ideal response?


Feedback inhibition is also known as negative feedback and end-product inhibition. In this mechanism, the product of a particular metabolic pathway inhibits an enzyme that catalyzes a reaction earlier in the pathway. For example, the end-product might be an allosteric inhibitor of that enzyme, binding to a location on the enzyme outside the active site. When the allosteric inhibitor binds, it changes the shape of the enzyme and prevents the enzyme from binding to its substrate. This "shuts off" the enzyme, and because the product of one reaction is the substrate for another, it shuts down the pathway. The inhibition is released as the amount of the end-product decreases. When this occurs, the pathway will be turned on again, because the cell again needs the end-product. Feedback inhibition controls enzyme activity so that energy and metabolites are not wasted.

Biology & Microbiology

You might also like to view...

Modern cells are thought to have arisen from

a. protocells. b. pre-cells. c. gas and dust clouds. d. prokaryotic cells that predated protocells. e. prokaryotic cells that predated pre-cells.

Biology & Microbiology

Which of the choices gives the correct sequence of early embryonic development in Drosophila?

A) zygote, syncytial blastoderm, multinucleate syncytium, cellular blastoderm B) zygote, cellular blastoderm, syncytial blastoderm, multinucleate syncytium C) zygote, multinucleate syncytium, syncytial blastoderm, cellular blastoderm D) syncytial blastoderm, multinucleate syncytium, zygote, cellular blastoderm

Biology & Microbiology

The ____ is/are a plant’s main line of defense against viral infection

a. immune cells b. viral toxins within the central vacuole c. membrane proteins that latch onto virus particles d. thick cell wall that prevents viral entry e. nuclear membrane that is impermeable to viruses

Biology & Microbiology

When an atom's outer electron shell is filled, the atom is ____

a. unstable b. positively charged c. polarized d. most stable e. isotope

Biology & Microbiology