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Michaelis Constant of Soil Urease
Author(s) -
Paulson K. N.,
Kurtz L. T.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1970.03615995003400010021x
Subject(s) - urease , michaelis–menten kinetics , adsorption , chemistry , microorganism , population , environmental chemistry , enzyme , bacteria , biochemistry , biology , enzyme assay , organic chemistry , demography , sociology , genetics
Application of the Michaelis‐Menten equation to urease activity of soil showed that the Michaelis constant ( K m ) changed with fluctuation in microbial population and thus with changes in the proportion of microbial and adsorbed urease. Regression of urease activity on number of ureolytic microorganisms permitted division of total urease activity into portions caused by microbial and adsorbed forms, respectively. Computations using the partitioned urease activities gave K m 's for the microbial and adsorbed forms of 0.057 and 0.252 M , respectively. These values are similar in order of magnitude to those reported in the literature and thus further support the hypothesis that urease is active in both microbial and adsorbed forms in soil.