Michaelis-Menten kinetics under non-isothermal conditions

Abstract

We extend the celebrated Michaelis-Menten kinetics description of an enzymatic reaction taking into consideration the presence of a thermal driving force. A coupling of chemical and thermal driving forces is expected from the principle of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, and specifically we obtain an additional term to the classical Michaelis-Menten kinetic equation, which describes the coupling in terms of a single parameter. A companion equation for the heat flux is also derived, which actually can exist even in the absence of a temperature difference. Being thermodynamic in nature, this result is general and independent of the detailed mechanism of the coupling. Conditions for the experimental verification of the new equation are discussed.