The kinetics of an enzyme catalyzed reaction in the presence of an unstable, irreversible modifier

Abstract

1.1. The chemical modifications of enzymes is a widely used technique to gain information about the number, type and location of aminoacid residues which are essential for activity. A number of these modifiers are unstable in aqueous solutions and act irreversibly.2.2. The kinetics of such systems have previously been studied under assumptions, some of which are either unnecessary or too restrictive.3.3. We replace these assumptions by others which are more realistic and less stringent.4.4. These assumptions allow us to derive analytical expressions for the evolution of all the species involved in the reaction.5.5. From the analytical expression for the time course of the product formation an experimental design and a kinetic data analysis allowing the easy characterization of these systems are suggested.