Enzyme Regulation in Metabolic Pathways

Enzymology is the study of enzymes as protein molecules, with specific folding patterns of the amino acid polymer and unique binding sites wherein intra– and inter–molecular distances define the specificity of the molecule to attract, bind to, and change some substrate molecule.

Enzyme Regulation in Intermediary Metabolism shows the reader how to understand the roles of enzymes and their kinetic constants in intermediary metabolism. It provides a means of correlating data obtained in experimental studies to multiple possible mechanisms through which some enzyme may catalyze the conversion of a substrate to a product. Quasi–equilibrium assumptions are used throughout the book, keeping the rate equation derivations simple. Actual metabolic pathways with known (presumed) positive and negative regulation events are linked to these potential kinetic mechanisms using both rate equation derivations and data plots illustrating how the rate equation derivations can be used to explain the data plots.
This book will be a valuable reference for students in biological sciences and biochemistry, taking a core course in enzymology.

About the Author
Lloyd Wolfinbarger, Jr. Professor Emeritus at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, USA

Chapter 1: Discussion of characteristics (explains the reasons behind this book and provides a brief summary of enzymology).

Chapter 2: Beginnings of Equations (provides commonly used equations in an enzymology course).

Chapter 3: Metabolite Distribution Systems (explores how metabolites are distributed amongst differing metabolic pathways by attempting to relate the aforementioned enzyme kinetic values of Km and Vmax to a water distribution system).

Chapter 4: Modification of Enzymatic Activity (explains one means of regulating enzymatic activity by modifying either the apparent Km and/or the apparent Vmax of an enzyme).

Chapter 5: Modification of Metabolite Flow Through Metabolic Pathways

Chapter 6:  Underlying Attributes of Assessing Enzymatic Activities (this chapter discusses some of the more important attributes associated with determine Km and Vmax values of enzymes–modified or not modified).

Chapter 7: Which is the real substrate? (this chapter discusses how one determines the rates of conversion of substrate to product in order to determine how Km and Vmax values manage intermediary metabolism as described in Chapter 6, one has to pay attention to knowing what the real substrate might be in an enzymatic reaction).