Reusing Enzyme?

Question

Hi, is there an effect on enzyme performance by using it again?

if i use an enzyme to break something in a lab, can i use that same exact enzyme and use it for something else, with it still performing as efficiently as in the first lab??

Answer 1

First of all how are you going to use it?

If you have the enzyme in solution, then once you mix it with something you will have more things in your mix, so you can't really use the same tube since it will have other chemicals present. (you will be contaminating your samples with other compounds; you could do it if the other compounds do not affect your other application)

If you have a tube of enzyme, used an aliquot for the reaction and you eant to use a different aliquot then it should be OK as long as you handle the enzyme appropriately (e.g. keeping it on ice if required).

If you have a tethered enzyme, you can probably wash with an appropriate solution in order to remove remainings from the previous reaction and use it.

Enzymes are catalysts so they shouldn't be consumed during the reaction. However their stability is not as good as that of inorganic catalysts and thus you could have some of the enzyme denaturing. This depends on the nature of the enzyme and the experimental conditions.

Answer 2

From what I remember of university chemistry, Using an exnzyme does not alter the enzyme in any way. The enzyme is merely used to speed up reactions.
Because of this, the enzyme will be used with the same effect every time, in a specific type of chemical reaction.

The same enzyme may be used for different chemical reactions but the effect it has may differ from reaction type to reaction type but the result within each type will be the same.

Answer 3

Some enzymes are incredibly stable. All are subject to degradation by hydrolysis especially after microbial contamination.