Question Details

The fastest enzyme is

Options

A

DNA polymerase

B

pepsin

C

carbonic anhydrase

D

DNA gyrase

Correct Answer :

carbonic anhydrase

Solution :

The correct answer is carbonic anhydrase.

Enzymes are biological catalysts that accelerate chemical reactions in living organisms. The efficiency of an enzyme is often measured by its turnover number (also known as kcat), which represents the number of substrate molecules converted into product by a single enzyme active site per second.

Among the options provided:
1. DNA polymerase: Involved in DNA replication, it is relatively slow, synthesizing about 50 to 1000 nucleotides per second depending on the organism.
2. Pepsin: A digestive enzyme in the stomach that breaks down proteins. Its turnover rate is typical of digestive enzymes, which is relatively slow.
3. DNA gyrase: An enzyme that relieves strain while double-stranded DNA is being unwound. Its catalytic rate is low compared to metabolic enzymes.
4. Carbonic anhydrase: This enzyme catalyzes the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide to form carbonic acid (CO2+H2OH2CO3). It is one of the fastest known enzymes, with a turnover number ranging from 105 to 106 reactions per second per enzyme molecule. This speed is close to the diffusion-controlled limit, meaning the reaction occurs almost as fast as the substrate molecules can diffuse into the enzyme's active site.

Therefore, carbonic anhydrase is the fastest enzyme among the options.

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