Hexokinase, active site molecular model

We ll look at enzymes in more detail in Section 26.10, but you may already be aware that an enzyme is a large, globular, protein molecule that contains in its stmcture a protected pocket called its active site. The active site is lined by acidic or basic groups as needed for catalysis and has precisely the right shape to bind and hold a substrate molecule in the orientation necessary for reaction. Figure 6.9 shows a molecular model of hexokinase, along with an X-ray crystal stmcture of the glucose substrate and adenosine diphosphate (ADP) bound... 

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