Enzymes are so much more than just catalysts. Engaging students with the role enzymes play in the regulation of metabolism allows them to see the elegance of life’s solutions to the challenges it faces. The introductory article presents a way to enthuse students about enzymes by exploring their role as metabolic switches.
The more in-depth document Enzymes – the untold story elaborates on this idea, delving further into how plants make choices and how enzymes allow for a self-organising system. Also included is an activity which challenges students to work out how a self-organising system could control the fate of the glucose produced in photosynthesis.

This work, presented at the ASE Annual Conference 2021, is currently still in draft format and has been carried out by Dr Chris Graham, Head of Biology at Hills Road Sixth Form College (seconded to SAPS).