Environmental Impacts on Enzyme Function

AP Biology· difficulty 2/5

pepsin trypsin pH

Pepsin (stomach enzyme) and trypsin (intestinal enzyme) have different pH optima because

  • A

    The stomach maintains a higher pH than the intestine, so pepsin needs basic conditions

  • B

    Random variation in amino acid sequence makes their pH preferences unpredictable

  • C

    Each enzyme's structure and active-site chemistry are tuned to its physiological location's pH

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  • D

    All enzymes work the same way regardless of pH because the active site is universal

Explanation

Stomach pH ~2 selects for pepsin's optimum near 2; intestinal pH ~8 selects for trypsin's optimum near 8.

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