What Occurs When Cofactor Binds to an Enzyme

These enzymes have an extra binding site, the allosteric site, into which a cofactor can bind. This allows the cofactor to act like a switch turning the enzyme either on or off. If the cofactor turns the enzyme on it can be called an activator.

What happens when a cofactor binds to an enzyme?

Some enzymes require the addition of another non-protein molecule to function as an enzyme. These are known as cofactors, and without these enzymes remain within the inactive “apoenzyme” forms. Once the cofactor is added, the enzyme becomes the active “holoenzyme”.

What is the role of cofactor in protein binding?

Cofactors play important functional and structural roles for many proteins. Metalloproteins are a typical class of proteins requiring cofactors. Some of these proteins require cofactors for proper folding, whereas others can only bind cofactors after they acquire their native structures and the binding sites form.