Enzymes and regulation
Enzyme kinetics, inhibition types, and pathway control.
Enzymes control speed. The MCAT uses enzymes to test your ability to reason about rate changes, inhibition, and pathway consequences. You must explain why a reaction accelerates or slows, not just name the enzyme. If you can predict what builds up, what drops, and how a cell compensates, you can solve most enzyme passages.
- Enzymes lower activation energy, not equilibrium
- Competitive inhibition affects Km more than Vmax
- Non-competitive inhibition lowers Vmax
- Feedback loops regulate pathway output
- Predict substrate and product shifts when a step is blocked
Think of a pathway you know. If the final product doubled, how would feedback inhibition change the earlier steps? Write a two-sentence explanation.
Generate a short quiz from this lesson. Choose the formats you want, then run it.
Use this for step-by-step support. This is learning-first and shows reasoning.
Official MCAT overview from AAMC (link-only).
Official free planning resources (link-only).
Register for the official free MCAT practice exam (link-only).
Official MCAT content outline (link-only).
External Khan Academy MCAT content. Link-only with attribution.
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