Author(s)

Antonio Sillero, Víctor García-Herrero

Departamento de Bioquímica, Facultad de Medicina, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Alberto Sols, UAM/CSIC, Madrid, Spain.

A metabolic cycle can be viewed as a central core and its branches. The central core is here firstly considered as a pre-closed metabolic cycle (CMC), with a unique first substrate, but with no input or output of other components. By contrast, the metabolic cycles in nature are open metabolic cycles (OMC) with output and input of external substrates (through “metabolic branches”), modulating continuously the enzyme activities and the total concentration of their substrates thorough complex regulatory phenomena. In this work, the transition from a Closed to an Open metabolic cycle has been simulated by a consecutive entry and exit of two components through the catalytic action of two enzymes. It is known that after any alteration of the initial conditions, the cycles need a time to reach new equilibrium. We have measured the changes of transition time (T.T.) values in 81 models of CMC differing in Km or Vmax values. In general, the T.T. tends to be shorter in cycles with preponderant lower Km and higher Vmax values. Further, Mathematica refinement for the estimation of transition time from the data previously calculated can be obtained with the use of the command Interpolating Function.

Metabolic Cycles, Equilibration Times, Kinetic Constants, Differential Equations, Mathematica

Sillero, A. and García-Herrero, V. (2016) Closed and Open Metabolic Cycles: Transition Time. Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 9, 127-140. doi: 10.4236/jbise.2016.92009.