Microcomputer simulation of steady-state enzyme kinetics for educational purposes.

A BASIC program to assist the instruction of steady-state enzyme kinetics has been developed for the IBM PC microcomputer. Its purpose is to simulate laboratory experiments in order to minimize the time required to obtain kinetic data from which students deduce kinetic mechanisms and determine kinetic constants of enzyme-catalyzed reactions. The program randomly selects a kinetic scheme from various sequential, ping pong, and iso reaction sequences as well as values for the kinetic constants. The scheme and kinetic constants are unknown to the student at this time; the only thing he or she knows is the stoichiometry of the catalyzed reaction which can have two or three substrates and products. The student is prompted to enter values for concentrations of substrates and products; several different concentrations for each substrate and product can be entered in a single experiment. The program then calculates, displays and prints (if desired) the corresponding initial steady-state velocities. The student can perform as many experiments as desired until enough information is obtained to determine the kinetic mechanism and to calculate values for the kinetic constants.