9 Reaction Chemical Kinetics in Biology
Nicholas J. Harmer1 and Mirella Vivoli Vega2
1 Living Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter, EX4 4QD, UK
2 Department of Biomedical Experimental and Clinical Sciences, University of Florence, Viale Morgagni 50, 50134 Florence, Italy
9.1 Significance
The function of many proteins is to act as catalysts for biological reactions. These protein catalysts, enzymes, generally speed up the rate of one or at most a few reactions, with a limited range of potential substrates. There is a general scientific interest in quantitatively understanding how enzymes alter the rate of reactions. Quantifying how reaction rates change underpins our understanding of cellular physiology; for industrial usage, it is critical to know how fast reactions will take place and there is an increasing interest in using synthetic biology to engineer new biochemistry into organisms. Enzyme assays have been foundational to our understanding of biology in the past and will contribute to an even broader range of applications in the next wave of biological sciences.
9.1.1 Examples of Enzyme Use (Clinical and Biotechnology)
Defects in enzymes underlie many human genetic conditions. Two of the most common human homozygous genetic defects in enzymes are mutations in the enzymes phenylalanine 4‐hydroxylase (PAH; Figure 9.1a) [4,5] and glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD; Figure 9.1b) [6]. PAH hydroxylates phenylalanine to tyrosine as ...