Linear relation between rate and thermodynamic force in enzyme-catalyzed reactions

Abstract

Starting from enzyme kinetics, it is shown that generally a linear rather than a proportional relationship exists between rate and free energy changes in biochemical processes. In the derivation the boundary condition of constant substrate plus product is used, which is appropriate for many cellular systems. An example is the ADP plus ATP concentration is mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, as is illustrated experimentally.