Michaelis-Menten EquationMichaelis-Menten EquationThis represents the Michaelis-Menten model of chemical reactions. In essence, this model states that a substrate combines with an enzyme to form an activated complex. This complex then reacts to form an enzyme and a product. The reaction specified by this equation is the most common representation of a chemical reaction, used in fields from biochemistry to neuroscience.
There are four groups: enzymes, substrate, product, and activate complexes. These groups interact with one another as the simulation runs, and substrate turns into product. The relative concentrations of these molecules are represented in the graph at the right.
The parameters of interest are k1, km1, and k2. These determine the likelihood that a reaction will take place along with the concentrations of the reactants. As the reaction progresses, the concentrations of the reactants are displayed on a graph.
The concentration of substrate will continually decrease while the concentration of product will continually increase. The concentration of the enzyme depends on the rate at which the reaction occurs, so it will initially drop sharply, then slowly (asymptotically) return to its original value as all of the substrate reacts. The activated complex will do the exact opposite, reaching its peak as the reaction occurs at the quickest rate, and then slowly going to zero.