EXPERIMENTAL-DESIGNS FOR ESTIMATING THE KINETIC-PARAMETERS FOR ENZYME-CATALYZED REACTIONS

The problem of evaluating the kinetic parameters associated with an enzyme-catalysed reaction is examined. If the errors associated with velocity measurements are unknown, or are known to deviate from a normal distribution, then methods based on the minimization of the sum of squares are inappropriate. It is shown that by using a proper experimental design then the kinetic parameters may be estimated unambiguously while making only minimal assumptions regarding the error structure of the data. The design consists of several replicate measurements of the velocity at as many experimental conditions as there are parameters to be estimated. Formulae are presented for choosing the experimental conditions for selected kinetic equations and a computer program is described for designing experiments for any kinetic model. The designs formulated are optimal in the sense that they minimize the overall variance of the parameter estimates. © 1979.