Finn Hynne, Sune Danø and Preben Graae Sørensen

Department of Chemistry and CATS, University of Copenhagen,
Universitetsparken 5, 2100 København Ø, Denmark

We present a powerful, general method of fitting a model of a
biochemical pathway to experimental substrate concentrations and
dynamical properties measured at a stationary state, when the
mechanism is largely known but kinetic parameters are lacking.

Rate constants and maximum velocities are calculated from the
experimental data by simple algebra without integration of kinetic
equations.  Using this direct approach, we fit a comprehensive
model of glycolysis in intact yeast cells to data measured on a
suspension of living cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae near a
Hopf bifurcation and to a large set of stationary concentrations
and other data estimated from comparable batch experiments.

The resulting model agrees with almost all experimentally known
stationary concentrations, with the frequency of oscillation and
with the majority of other experimentally known kinetic and
dynamical variables.

References:

P. Richard, J. A. Diderich, B. M. Bakker, B. Teusink, K. van Dam
and H. V. Westerhoff: FEBS Letters, 341, 223-226 (1994)

P. Richard, B. Teusink, M. B. Hemker, K. van Dam and
H. V. Westerhoff: Yeast, 12, 731-740 (1996)

S. Danø, P. G. Sørensen and F. Hynne: Nature, 402, 320-322 (1999)