4. Enzymes and Inhibitors Why in the world do we have to use equations and graphs--which are no fun at all--to get the values of V max and K m ? One reason is to demonstrate that enzyme reactions are extremely precise and predict- able. They proceed in strict accordance with chemical and mathematical laws. More importantly, for scholars doing enzyme research or research concerning the world surrounding enzymes, the values of V max and K m are very useful. One of these areas of research deals with the relationship between enzymes and inhibitors. An inhibitor is a substance that affects the binding of an enzyme and substrate, or affects the enzyme itself. As a result, it inhibits the enzyme's activity. Many inhibitors are created artificially and used for enzyme research. Since they inhibit enzymes, they are often toxic to living organisms. However, they can also be used in positive ways--to kill cancer cells, for example. Inhibitors also exist in the natural world. In that case, they're known as "cellular" enzyme inhibitors rather than "medicinal" inhibitors. For example, some inhibitors are cre- ated directly in an organism's cells and play important roles in regulating enzyme reactions. Plants can create inhibitors as well. The seeds of certain legumes, for example, contain cel- lular enzyme inhibitors such as -amylase inhibitors or trypsin inhibitors. These are known