Enzyme kinetics and mechanism

Abstract

Enzyme Kinetics and Mechanism Paul F. Cook W. W. Cleland, Taylor & Francis, Inc., New York, New York, 2007, 403 pp., ISBN 978-0-8153-4140-6, $70.00. James Zimmerman*, * Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634. The authors define their audience quite accurately in the preface that “this book… should serve as a text for graduate students and a reference for the senior investigator…,” whereas other texts “do not convey an understanding at the intuitive level….” The authors also state that in other books, isotope effects and pH-rate profiles are covered or not covered in a cursory manner. Later, in the text, the authors state that “the major tools for determining the chemical mechanisms of enzymatic reactions are isotope effects and pH profiles.” The text contains ten chapters, but six of these chapters are 22 pages or less while two of the chapters are more than 80 pages long, emphasizing the authors' interest in using initial velocity studies in the presence of inhibitors and using isotope effects as a probe of mechanism. In this book, enzyme mechanism refers strictly to the order of substrates going in, possible enzyme isomerizations, and the order of products leaving. After a particular mechanism is kinetically described, the authors have given an example of an enzymatic system that follows that kinetic mechanism. The shorthand notation for various journals used in the text is a bit off-putting, for example, AB for analytical biochemistry and B for biochemistry; but there is a complete set of notations listed at the beginning of the book. As would be expected from the authors, the treatment of rate equations for bisubstrate kinetics is exceedingly thorough. I find it difficult to devise any reasonable kinetic model that they have not given. A flow chart (p. 117) for systems in the absence of added inhibitors is extremely useful to distinguish between different kinetic models. This text is very well edited—I was able to find only three typographical errors in the entire book, which is the lowest of any text I have reviewed. However, there was one glaring mathematical error, which was repeated twice in the text. In page 57 and again in page 97, the authors state that σ is the sum of squares of residuals divided by degrees of freedom. What they describe is the variance (σ2). I found the book difficult to follow as a text. For most of the systems, the equation for the model appeared out of thin air, which was then used to further develop the variations around that model. This forces the student or faculty member to derive the initial expression by themselves (not necessarily a bad idea). However, as a reference text, it was easy to locate the model wanted and therefore to find the appropriate equations. Overall, this is a quality reference book. For a reference text on complicated kinetic patterns, I strongly recommend it.