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Strong control on the transit time in metabolic channelling
Author(s) -
Kholodenko Boris N.,
Sakamoto Naoto,
Puigjaner Joaquim,
Westerhoff Hans V.,
Cascante Marta
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(96)00532-7
Subject(s) - channelling , transit time , transit (satellite) , metabolic pathway , enzyme , substrate (aquarium) , chemistry , biochemistry , biology , engineering , public transport , ion , ecology , organic chemistry , transport engineering
A suite of different characteristic times is used to describe the temporal behavior of a metabolic pathway. Here we focus on the ‘transit’ time that is the average time it takes for a molecule entering the steady‐state pathway as a substrate to exit the pathway as a product. We show that metabolic channelling results in dramatic changes in control exerted by pathway enzymes on the transit time. In an ‘ideal’ pathway a doubling of the enzyme concentrations halves the transit time. In a dynamic channel such an increase can reduce the transit time by a factor of four or more.