Dynamic control of catalysis within biological cells
Statistical Mechanics
2011-05-27 v1 Biological Physics
Subcellular Processes
Abstract
We develop a theory of enzyme catalysis within biological cells where the substrate concentration [S](t) is time dependent, in contrast to the Michaelis-Menten theory that assumes a steady state. We find that the time varying concentration can combine, in a non-linear way, with the ruggedness of the free energy landscape of enzymes (discovered both in single molecule studies and in simulations) to provide a highly efficient switch (or, bifurcation) between two catalytically active states, at a critical substrate concentration. This allows a dynamic control of product synthesis in cell.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1105.5192,
title = {Dynamic control of catalysis within biological cells},
author = {Biman Jana and Biman Bagchi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1105.5192},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
13 pages, 4 figures