title: Strong control on the transit time in metabolic channelling.
abstract: A suite of different characteristic times is used to describe the temporal behavior of a metabolic pathway. Here we focus on the 'transit' time, that is the average time it takes for a molecule, entering the steady-state pathway as a substrate, to exit the pathway as a product. We show that metabolic channelling results in dramatic changes in control exerted by pathway enzymes on the transit time. In an 'ideal' pathway a doubling of the enzyme concentrations halves the transit time. In a dynamic channel such an increase can reduce the transit time by a factor of four or more.
authors.affiliation: Department de Bioquimica i Fisiologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franques 1, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: B N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Kholodenko
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Puigjaner
authors.forename: H V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Westerhoff
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cascante
mesh_terms: D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism*; D007700:Kinetics; D008660:Metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes