Chapter 19, Problem 19.84QP

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The ability of sulfa drugs to selectively kill bacteria without any harm to humans has to be determined.

Concept Introduction:

Enzyme inhibition can occur via different mechanisms such as irreversible inhibition and reversible competitive inhibition. Certain inhibitors may compete to bind at the active site of the enzyme as they resemble the structure of the natural substrate of that particular enzyme. These are classified as competitive inhibitors or structural analogs. They may occupy the active site for a transient period of time as they are held by only weak forces and thus dissociate quickly unlike the case of irreversible inhibition where usually strong covalent interaction does not allow the inhibitor to dissociate from the active site. The significance of such inhibition is that it can be reversed if the natural substrate can be bound to the enzyme with stronger forces or if the concentration of the natural substrate is increased.