Trader Joe's Milk

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Lactase is a digestive enzyme that serves as a catalyst for the purposes of breaking down Lactose, with the addition of Water, at lower activation energy. Consequently, this hydrolysis reaction and absorption of Lactose results in the production of Galactose and Glucose. It is important to indicate that the enzyme Lactase is located in the small intestine of mammals, specifically in the brush border (microvilli) (Swagerty et al., 2002). With this in mind, the specific enzyme Lactase can only bind with a specific substrate, Lactose, at its active site. If the Lactase enzyme is altered, then it can no longer bind with what was its specific substrate, Lactose. The alteration in enzyme shape can be attributed to a change in temperature, change in pH, competitive inhibitors, non-competitive inhibitors, activators, concentration of substrates, concentration of enzymes, and the concentration of cofactors. …show more content…
Now, on average, do milk-based types of Trader Joe’s Milk have more lactose than plant-based types of Trader Joe’s Milk? Based on prior knowledge, I predict that Lactase will only recognize and bind to the specific Lactose substrate while also being in the presence of 20% Sucrose Solution (Carolina Biological) in the experiment. For this reason, the average Glucose concentration in the milk-based types of Trader Joe’s Milk will be higher than that in the plant-based types of Trader Joe’s Milk, which indicates that the lactose content indeed varies by milk type. The primary objective of this experiment is to measure the significance of the Glucose concentration, for each Trader Joe’s Milk type and its four different solutions, to determine the lactose