Abstract
Biochemical reactions are continually taking place in all living organisms and most of them involve proteins called enzymes, which act as remarkably efficient catalysts. Enzymes react selectively on definite compounds called substrates. For example haemoglobin in red blood cells is an enzyme and oxygen, with which it combines, is a substrate. Enzymes are important in regulating biological processes, for example as activators or inhibitors in a reaction. To understand their role we have to study enzyme kinetics which is mainly the study of rates of reactions, the temporal behaviour of the various reactants and the conditions which influence them. Introductions with a mathematical bent are given in the books by Rubinow (1975), Murray (1977) and the one edited by Segel (1980). A biochemically oriented book, Roberts (1977) for example, goes into the subject in more depth.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Murray, J.D. (1989). Reaction Kinetics. In: Mathematical Biology. Biomathematics, vol 19. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-08539-4_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-08539-4_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-08541-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-08539-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive