Particle-Based Simulation Reveals Macromolecular Crowding Effects on the Michaelis-Menten Mechanism.

ABSTRACT: Many computational models for analyzing and predicting cell physiology rely on in vitro data collected in dilute and controlled buffer solutions. However, this can mislead models because up to 40% of the intracellular volume-depending on the organism, the physiology, and the cellular compartment-is occupied by a dense mixture of proteins, lipids, polysaccharides, RNA, and DNA. These intracellular macromolecules interfere with the interactions of enzymes and their reactants and thus affect the kinetics of biochemical reactions, making in vivo reactions considerably more complex than the in vitro data indicates. In this work, we present a new, to our knowledge, type of kinetics that captures and quantifies the effect of volume exclusion and other spatial phenomena on the kinetics of elementa

SUBMITTER: Weilandt DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6701012 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature