You have discovered a new species of marine bacteria (E. favoritus) that produces an enzyme that you call petrolease (pronounced: peh-tro'-lee-aise). Petrolease breaks down hydrocarbons in crude oil; therefore, the bacteria may be useful in cleaning up crude oil spills in the ocean. The naturally occurring enzyme functions best at 25 degrees C. Below that temperature there is a continuous decline in activity until 0 degrees C when activity drops to zero. You have isolated and engineered the gene for petrolease to have greater activity at lower temperatures. You determined enzyme activity for both native and engineered petrolease over a range of temperatures from 0 to 35 degrees, repeating your tests several times. a) What is the independent variable for this study?
b) What is the dependent variable for this study?