Metabolic control analysis. Sensitivity of control coefficients to elasticities.

This paper illustrates a method to calculate the sensitivities of control coefficients to the elasticities which determine their values and it is shown that these sensitivities are systemic properties. We show, both theoretically and with a practical example, how they can be used to investigate: (a) the relative importance of a particular elasticity in the determination of the value of a control coefficient; (b) the effect of experimental error on the values of the control coefficients and (c) the construction of confidence limits around the values of the control coefficients.