A different view of Henri-Michaelis-Menten (HMM) enzyme kinetics is presented. In the first part of the paper, a simplified but useful description that stresses the cyclic nature of the catalytic process is introduced. The time-dependence of the substrate concentration after the initial transient phase is derived in a simple way that dispenses the mathematical technique known as quasi-steady-state approximation. In the second part of the paper an exact one-dimensional formulation of HMM kinetics is obtained. The whole problem is condensed in a single one-variable evolution equation that is a second-order non-linear differential equation, and the control parameters are reduced to three dimensionless quantities: enzyme efficiency, substrate reduced initial concentration, and enzyme reduced initial concentration. The exact solution of HMM kinetics is obtained as a set of Maclaurin series. From the same equation, a number of approximate solutions, some known, some new, are derived in a systematic way that allows a precise evaluation of the respective level of approximation and conditions of validity. The evolution equation derived is also shown to be well suited for the numerical computation of the concentrations of all species as a function of time for any given combination of parameters.
The Michaelis-Menten enzymatic reaction is sufficient to perceive many subtleties of network modeling, including the concentration and time scales separations, the formal equivalence between bulk phase and single-molecule approaches, or the relationships between single-cycle transient probabilities and steady state rates. Seven methods proposed by different authors and yielding the same famous Michaelis-Menten equation, are selected here to illustrate the kinetic and probabilistic use of rate constants and to review basic techniques for handling them. Finally, the general rate of an ordered mu…
We generalize the concept of the geometric phase in stochastic kinetics to a noncyclic evolution. Its application is demonstrated on kinetics of the Michaelis-Menten reaction. It is shown that the nonperiodic geometric phase is responsible for the correction to the Michaelis-Menten law when parameters, such as a substrate concentration, are changing with time. We apply these ideas to a model of chemical reactions in a bacterial culture of a growing size, where the geometric correction qualitatively changes the outcome of the reaction kinetics.
In biochemical systems the Michaelis-Menten (MM) scheme is one of the best-known models of the enzyme- catalyzed kinetics. In the academic literature the MM approximation has been thoroughly studied in the context of differential equation models. At the level of the cell, however, molecular fluctuations have many important consequences, and thus, a stochastic investigation of the MM scheme is often necessary. In their work Barik et al. [Biophysical Journal, 95, 3563-3574, (2008)] presented a stochastic approximation of the MM scheme. They suggested a substitution of the propensity function in …
Enzyme kinetics is very often characterised by the irreversible Michaelis-Menten (MM) equation. However, in open chemical reaction networks such as metabolic pathways, this approach can lead to significant kinetic and thermodynamic inconsistencies. Based on recent developments in nonequilibrium chemical thermodynamics, we present a validity criterion solely expressed in terms of the equilibrium constant of the enzyme-catalysed reaction. When satisfied, it guarantees the ability of the irreversible MM equation to generate kinetic and thermodynamic data that are quantitatively reliable for reaso…
To understand the behaviour of complex systems it is often necessary to use models that describe the dynamics of subnetworks. It has previously been established using projection methods that such subnetwork dynamics generically involves memory of the past, and that the memory functions can be calculated explicitly for biochemical reaction networks made up of unary and binary reactions. However, many established network models involve also Michaelis-Menten kinetics, to describe e.g. enzymatic reactions. We show that the projection approach to subnetwork dynamics can be extended to such networks…
In a conformational nonequilibrium steady state (cNESS), enzyme turnover is modulated by the underlying conformational dynamics. Based on a discrete kinetic network model, we use the integrated probability flux balance method to derive the cNESS turnover rate for a conformation-modulated enzymatic reaction. The traditional Michaelis-Menten (MM) rate equation is extended to a generalized form, which includes non-MM corrections induced by conformational population currents within combined cyclic kinetic loops. When conformational detailed balance is satisfied, the turnover rate reduces to the MM…
Recent fluorescence spectroscopy measurements of the turnover time distribution of single-enzyme turnover kinetics of $β$-galactosidase provide evidence of Michaelis-Menten kinetics at low substrate concentration. However, at high substrate concentrations, the dimensionless variance of the turnover time distribution shows systematic deviations from the Michaelis-Menten prediction. This difference is attributed to conformational fluctuations in both the enzyme and the enzyme-substrate complex and to the possibility of both parallel and off-pathway kinetics. Here, we use the chemical master equa…
We study chemical reactions with complex mechanisms under two assumptions: (i) intermediates are present in small amounts (this is the quasi-steady-state hypothesis or QSS) and (ii) they are in equilibrium relations with substrates (this is the quasiequilibrium hypothesis or QE). Under these assumptions, we prove the generalized mass action law together with the basic relations between kinetic factors, which are sufficient for the positivity of the entropy production but hold even without microreversibility, when the detailed balance is not applicable. Even though QE and QSS produce useful app…
Cytoskeletal motor proteins move on filamentous tracks by converting input chemical energy that they derive by catalyzing the hydrolysis of ATP. The ATPase site is the analog of an engine and hydrolysis of ATP is the analog of burning of chemical fuel. Moreover, the functional role of a segment of the motor is analogous to that of the transmission system of an automobile that consists of shaft, gear, clutch, etc. The operation of the engine is intrinsically "noisy" and the motor faces a molecular "hailstorm" in the aqueous medium. In this commemorative article, we celebrate the centenary of Mi…
We develop an general formalism of single enzyme kinetics in two dimension where substrates diffuse stochastically on a square lattice in presence of disorder. The dynamics of the model could be decoupled effectively to two stochastic processes, (a) the substrate arrives at the enzyme site in intervals which fluctuates in time and (b) the enzymatic reaction takes place at that site stochastically. We argue that distribution of arrival time is a two parameter function specified by the substrate and the disorder densities, and that it correctly reproduce the distribution of turnover time obtaine…
Starting from the detailed catalytic mechanism of a biocatalyst we provide a coarse-graining procedure which, by construction, is thermodynamically consistent. This procedure provides stoichiometries, reaction fluxes (rate laws), and reaction forces (Gibbs energies of reaction) for the coarse-grained level. It can treat active transporters and molecular machines, and thus extends the applicability of ideas that originated in enzyme kinetics. Our results lay the foundations for systematic studies of the thermodynamics of large-scale biochemical reaction networks. Moreover, we identify the condi…
We recall the perturbation expansion for Michaelis-Menten kinetics, beyond the standard quasi-steady-state approximation (sQSSA). Against this background, we are able to appropriately apply the alternative approach to the study of singularly perturbed differential equations that is based on the renormalization group (SPDERG), by clarifying similarities and differences. In the present demanding situation, we directly renormalize the bare initial condition value for the substrate. Our main results are: i) the 2nd order SPDERG uniform approximations to the correct solutions contain, up to 1st ord…
The standard two-step model of homogeneous-catalyzed reactions had been theoretically analyzed at various levels of approximations from time to time. The primary aim was to check the validity of the quasi-steady-state approximation, and hence emergence of the Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with various substrate-enzyme ratios. But, conclusions vary. We solve here the desired set of coupled nonlinear differential equations by invoking a new set of dimensionless variables. Approximate solutions are obtained via the power-series method aided by Pade approximants. The scheme works very successfully in…
Dynamic cooperativity in monomeric enzymes is characterized in terms of a non-Michaelis-Menten kinetic behaviour. The latter is believed to be associated with mechanisms that include multiple reaction pathways due to enzymatic conformational fluctuations. Recent advances in single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy have provided new fundamental insights on the possible mechanisms underlying reactions catalyzed by fluctuating enzymes. Here, we present a bottom-up approach to understand enzyme turnover kinetics at physiologically relevant mesoscopic concentrations informed by mechanisms extracte…
Reaction constants in traditional Michaelis-Menten type enzyme kinetics are most often determined through a linear Lineweaver-Burk plot. While such a graphical plot is sometimes good to achieve the end, it is always better to go for a few numerical tests that can assess the quality of the data set being used and hence offer more reliable measures of the quantities sought, furnishing along with appropriate error estimates. In this context, we specifically highlight how cases may appear with negative reaction constants and explore the origin of such bizarre findings.
It is well known in enzyme kinetics that the Michaelis-Menten (MM) equation is applicable only to enzymes in the steady state. We show that the result obtained in the previous work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 218301 (2011)] is inconsistent with the MM equation, not because the authors considered the enzyme system at mesoscopic concentrations but because they considered the enzyme system in the non-stationary state. The substrate concentration dependence of the mean turnover time is, in fact, consistent with the MM equation in the steady state, regardless of the number of enzymes in the system.
The celebrated Michaelis-Menten (MM) expression provides a fundamental relation between the rate of enzyme catalysis and substrate concentration. The validity of this classical expression is, however, restricted to macroscopic amounts of enzymes and substrates and, thus, to processes with negligible fluctuations. Recent experiments have measured fluctuations in the catalytic rate to reveal that the MM equation, though valid for bulk amounts, is not obeyed at the molecular level. In this mini-review, we show how new statistical measures of fluctuations in the catalytic rate identify a regime in…
Quasi-steady state reductions for the irreversible Michaelis--Menten reaction mechanism are of interest both from a theoretical and an experimental design perspective. A number of publications have been devoted to extending the parameter range where reduction is possible, via improved sufficient conditions. In the present note, we complement these results by exhibiting local conditions that preclude quasi-steady-state reductions (anti-quasi-steady-state), in the classical as well as in a broader sense. To this end, one needs to obtain necessary (as opposed to sufficient) conditions and determi…
Enzyme kinetics are cyclic. A more realistic reversible three-step mechanism of the Michaelis-Menten kinetics is investigated in detail, and three kinds of waiting cycle times $T$, $T_{+}$, $T_{-}$ are defined. It is shown that the mean waiting cycle times $<T>$, $<T_{+}>$, and $<T_{-}>$ are the reciprocal of the steady-state cycle flux $J^{ss}$, the forward steady-state cycle flux $J^{ss}_{+}$ and the backward steady-state cycle flux $J^{ss}_{-}$ respectively. We also show that the distribution of $T_{+}$ conditioned on $T_{+}<T_{-}$ is identical to the distribution of $T_{-}$ conditioned on …
The linear noise approximation models the random fluctuations from the mean-field model of a chemical reaction that unfolds near the thermodynamic limit. Specifically, the fluctuations obey a linear Langevin equation up to order $Ω^{-1/2}$, where $Ω$ is the size of the chemical system (usually the volume). In the presence of disparate timescales, the linear noise approximation admits a quasi-steady-state reduction referred to as the \textit{slow scale} linear noise approximation (ssLNA). Curiously, the ssLNAs reported in the literature are slightly different. The differences in the reported ss…
