What type of inhibitor does not bind to the active site of an enzyme but instead to another part, thereby affecting enzyme activity?

A non-competitive inhibitor does not bind to the active site of an enzyme; instead, it attaches to a different region, known as an allosteric site. This binding induces a conformational change in the enzyme, which alters its activity regardless of whether a substrate is bound to the active site. Consequently, non-competitive inhibitors can reduce the overall activity of the enzyme even if the substrate is present.

In contrast, a competitive inhibitor directly competes with the substrate for binding at the active site, which can be overcome by increasing substrate concentration. Allosteric inhibitors generally refer to the category of inhibitors that bind to allosteric sites and can either increase or decrease enzyme activity; non-competitive inhibitors specifically reduce activity. Feedback inhibitors are products of a metabolic pathway that inhibit an earlier step in that pathway, often functioning as a regulatory mechanism, but they do not specifically refer to binding in the manner described.