Testing biochemistry revisited: how in viov metabolism can be understood from in vitro enzyme kinetics.

A decade ago, a team of biochemists including two of us, modeled yeast glycolysis and showed that one of the most studied biochemical pathways could not be quite understood in terms of the kinetic properties of the constituent enzymes as measured in cell extract. Moreover, when the same model was later applied to different experimental steady-state conditions, it often exhibited unrestrained metabolite accumulation. Here we resolve this issue by showing that the results of such ab initio modeling are improved substantially by (i) including appropriate allosteric regulation and (ii) measuring the enzyme kinetic parameters under conditions that resemble the intracellular environment. The following modifications proved crucial: (i) implementation of allosteric regulation of hexokinase and pyruvate kinase, (ii) implementation of V