Lineweavee Burk Intuition

[Avicenna]

I dont get lineweaverburk plots intuitively. I memorized them, i know what the mean, i know the meaning of each significant point and slope on the graph, but cant wrap my head around what it means, summarily. 1/V and 1/S, 1/Km and Km/V are all really foreign concepts to try to understand.
How would I fare on the MCAT simply knowing them rather than understanding the big picture

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[El-Rami]

I would say that as long as you can recall what each type of inhibition does (increase, decrease, stay the same) for Km and Vmax, you should be fine. I would imagine that the questions would either give you a graph in a passage (say, for a drug interaction) or just ask you what happens to Km, Vmax, etc.

 

[MCATforsale1]

Good question.

 

[yeezuswest]

It's actually much easier to understand the small details by first getting a grasp of the bigger picture "intuition". I was like you when I first learned about Michaelis Menton kinetics in terms of not really knowing what was really going on, until I learned the bigger picture and was able to put everything together.

For example, the reason we use 1/Vo and 1/concentration of S in the lineweaver burke plot specifically is because it allows us to plot these values in a nice straight line that is easy to use and comprehend as opposed to the graph of a logarithm. By taking the inverse of all our values we are able to do that.

 

[trustme12]

yes as yeszus west said, it allows use to see what happens to at very high vmax, it s a better approximation of km and vmax because it allows us to go all the way down to zero, large vmax large km

 

[balopathic45]

remember the intercept with the x-axis (extrapolated to quadrant II) is at -1/Km. The negative sign makes it so that movement to the right means increase in Km as observed in competitive inhibition and mixed competition when the inhibitor has a higher affinity for the enzyme over the enzyme-substrate complex.

 

[tturchi51]

competitive inhibition= Km is increased

noncompetitive= Vmax is decreased

Explain how Vmax and Km can be obtained from a plot of V versus or a plot of 1/V versus 1/ (a Lineweaver-Burk plot).


o Km is the x-intercept (reciprocal) and the Vmax is the y-intercept (reciprocal) on a L-B plot. In competitive inhibition, the Vmax is unchanged but the Km is increased. In noncompetitive, the Vmax is decreased and the Km is unchanged. On the graph, competitive has a greater slope and a less negative (closer to 0) Km. Remember values are reciprocals (1/Vmax and-1/Km). L-B plots are more accurate

Tried to put my graphs on here but computer is being high maintenance right now

 

[wavvvvvves123]

It's actually much easier to understand the small details by first getting a grasp of the bigger picture "intuition". I was like you when I first learned about Michaelis Menton kinetics in terms of not really knowing what was really going on, until I learned the bigger picture and was able to put everything together.

For example, the reason we use 1/Vo and 1/concentration of S in the lineweaver burke plot specifically is because it allows us to plot these values in a nice straight line that is easy to use and comprehend as opposed to the graph of a logarithm. By taking the inverse of all our values we are able to do that.

Quoting you to say that i love your avatar and username hahahahaha

 

[yeezuswest]

Quoting you to say that i love your avatar and username hahahahaha

Nice lol