Tetanus is also commonly called lockjaw, because the infection primarily causes muscle contractions in the jaw and neck, but can eventually spread to other parts of the body. Without treatment, tetanus infection can be life-threatening.
Competitive inhibitors. The inhibitor (I) competes with the substrate (S) for the enzyme active site (also known as the S-binding site). Binding of either of these molecules in the active site is a mutually exclusive event. The substrate and inhibitor share a high degree of structural similarity.
Enzymes operate by binding to a substrate or substrates temporarily, lowering the activation energy necessary for a reaction to take place. The catalytic (active) site is the portion of the enzyme where substrate binding occurs. Each enzyme is specific for one or more substrate types. Two different theories about how enzyme-substrate binding exist. In the induced-fit (key and lock) model (a), the active site of an enzyme has a shape specific to the substrate.