1/ Why do mesophilic proteins lose activity at low temperatures? Given your answ

Question

1/ Why do mesophilic proteins lose activity at low temperatures? Given your answer to predict the characteristics that would allow proteins from psychrophilic organisms to maintain activity at low temperatures.

2/ Why do mesophilic proteins lose activity at high temperatures? Given your answer to predict the characteristics that would allow proteins from thermophilic organisms to maintain activity at high temperatures.

3/ Compare the characteristics of subtilisins isolated from psychrophilic, mesophilic, and thermophilic organisms. Do these differences agree with the predictions you made in questions 1 and 2? Why or why not.

Explanation / Answer

Low temperatures have a tendency to improve the compacity of a protein by limiting the breathing of the structure. This affects the micro-unfolding processes of the protein. Therefore, the mesophilic protein will automatically lose their mobility required for catalytic activity at low temperatures. The mesophilic proteins need more plasticity to perform catalysis at low temperatures. But, increased plasticity is responsible for low stability of the protein. Thus, the balance between flexibility and stability is the crucial point that proteins require to adapt to different environmental temperatures.

At higher temperatures, the mesophilic proteins usually denature and thus can function no more.

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