Enzymes
(To the tune of "Downtown")
Copyright 2008 Kevin Ahern

I have always loved the old 60s song called "Downtown" and I'm an enormous fan of Neal and Barbara Gladstone (check out their page HERE). Putting all these things together was a delight. I had two ideas for lyrics that would go to the "Downtown" tune. One would have used the word "phosphate" as the hook word instead of "enzymes." I had a hard time coming up with enough things to say about phosphates, though, so I stuck with enzymes. I'm glad I did. This song is the most downloaded song on the entire site. You can get the MP3 recording HERE).

Reactions alone
Could starve your cells to the bone
Thank God we all produce
Enzymes

Units arrange
To make the chemicals change
Because you always use
Enzymes  

Sometimes mechanisms run like they are at the races
Witness the Kcat of the carbonic anhydrases

How do they work?

Inside of the active site
It just grabs onto a substrate
and squeezes it tight
In an
ENZYME!
CAT-al-y-sis
In an
ENZYME!
V versus S
In an
ENZYME!
All of this working for you
(Enzyme, enzyme)  

Energy peaks
Are what an enzyme defeats
In its catalysis
Enzymes

Transition state
Is what an enzyme does great
And you should all know this
Enzymes

Catalytic action won't run wild - don't get hysteric
Cells can throttle pathways with an enzyme allosteric

You know it's true

So when an effector fits
It will just rearrange
all the sub-u-nits
Inside an
ENZYME!
Flipping from R to T
ENZYME!
Slow catalytically
ENZYME!
No change in Delta G
(Enzyme, enzyme)

You should relax
When seeking out the Vmax though
There are many steps
Enzymes

Lineweaver Burk
Can save a scientist work
With just two intercepts
Enzymes  

Plotting all the data from kinetic exploration
Lets you match a line into a best fitting equation

Here's what you do

Both axes are inverted then
You can determine Vmax and
Establish Km
for your
ENZYMES!
Sterically holding tight
ENZYMES!
Substrates positioned right
ENZYMES!
Inside the active site
Enzymes (Enzymes, enzymes, enzymes)

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