Translations:Enzyme/65/en

The efficiency of an enzyme can be expressed in terms of k_cat/K_m. This is also called the specificity constant and incorporates the rate constants for all steps in the reaction up to and including the first irreversible step. Because the specificity constant reflects both affinity and catalytic ability, it is useful for comparing different enzymes against each other, or the same enzyme with different substrates. The theoretical maximum for the specificity constant is called the diffusion limit and is about 10⁸ to 10⁹ (M⁻¹ s⁻¹). At this point every collision of the enzyme with its substrate will result in catalysis, and the rate of product formation is not limited by the reaction rate but by the diffusion rate. Enzymes with this property are called catalytically perfect or kinetically perfect. Example of such enzymes are triose-phosphate isomerase, carbonic anhydrase, acetylcholinesterase, catalase, fumarase, β-lactamase, and superoxide dismutase. The turnover of such enzymes can reach several million reactions per second. But most enzymes are far from perfect: the average values of $k_{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{t}}/K_{\mathrm{m}}$ and $k_{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{t}}$ are about $10^5{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}{\mathrm{M}}^{-1}$ and $10{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, respectively.