Computer-based learning of cooperativity and allostery.

The aim of this article is to facilitate the understanding of enzyme cooperativity and allostery by undergraduate and postgraduate students with the aid of a graphic microcomputer. For this purpose the molecular models of Monod-Wyman-Changeux (MWC) and of Koshland-Nemethy-Filmer (KNF) are tested by showing how the different plots, direct, reciprocal, Scatchard and Hill, vary as do the parameters considered in these models. The programs used (one for each model) progress from easy aspects to complicated ones without the intervention of the user (student). Nevertheless, ultimately, with the MWC model, after the introduction of heterotropic effectors, the users can select the parameters in order to further their knowledge. This can be useful also for testing the kinetic behavior of multisubunit enzymes which present cooperativity and which have been extensively described in the literature.