Animation of enzyme action

An enzyme-controlled reaction is often expressed in the following way:

The substrate molecules (orange rectangle) diffuse in [from the left, as in the equation] and bind with the active site of the enzyme, which is complementary in shape (lock and key concept). This forms the enzyme-substrate complex. The change in shape and colour of the enzyme are a hint to the induced fit theory of enzyme action. In all hydrolysis reactions, water (represented by the small blue rectangle) participates in the breakdown, with the release of products (red and yellow squares), which diffuse away [to the right]. The process continues as long as there are substrate molecules to be converted, as the enzyme molecule (green) is unchanged at the end of the reaction.

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