Steady-state phase or cooperative transitions between biochemical cycles

Abstract

In a steady-state lattice of interacting enzyme molecules that have a multicycle kinetic diagram, a cooperative or phase transition may involve not only the conventional sudden change in the relative importance of the different states of a molecule but also a sudden change in the dominant cycles of the diagram. The latter effect implies a sudden switch in the dominant biochemistry (e.g., a sudden onset of active transport). An explicit example is discussed.