Enzyme kinetics: A note on negative reaction constants in Lineweaver-Burk plots

TL;DR

This paper discusses the occurrence of negative reaction constants in enzyme kinetics when using Lineweaver-Burk plots, emphasizing the importance of numerical data assessment over purely graphical methods for more reliable results.

Contribution

It highlights the origin of negative reaction constants in enzyme kinetics and advocates for numerical tests to improve data reliability over traditional graphical methods.

Findings

Negative reaction constants can arise in enzyme kinetics analysis.

Numerical data assessment provides more reliable kinetic parameters.

Graphical methods like Lineweaver-Burk may lead to misleading results.

Abstract

Reaction constants in traditional Michaelis-Menten type enzyme kinetics are most often determined through a linear Lineweaver-Burk plot. While such a graphical plot is sometimes good to achieve the end, it is always better to go for a few numerical tests that can assess the quality of the data set being used and hence offer more reliable measures of the quantities sought, furnishing along with appropriate error estimates. In this context, we specifically highlight how cases may appear with negative reaction constants and explore the origin of such bizarre findings.