Definition of Active Site

The active site is a specific region of an enzyme that facilitates the binding of a substrate with an enzyme. There are two regions present in an active site which are known as the binding site and the catalytic site. The active site is made up from a few amino acids and they are folded onto each other to give the active site a certain configuration in the form of a groove.

The rest of the amino acids tend to stabilize the tertiary structure of the enzyme. The active site allows only the binding of specific substrates due to its chemical and electrical characteristics. This property shows that enzymes are highly specific in nature. Moreover, some enzymes also require certain factors known as cofactors for their proper functioning.