The competition plot: a simple test of whether two reactions occur at the same active site

Abstract

The competition plot is a method for determining whether or not two enzyme-catalysed reactions occur at the same active site. It is a plot of total rate against p, where p varies from 0 to 1 and specifies the concentrations (1-p)a0 and pb0 of two substrates in terms of reference concentrations a0 and b0 chosen so as to give the same rates at p = 0 and p = 1. If the two substrates react at the same site, the competition plot gives a horizontal straight line, i.e. the total rate is independent of p. Independent reactions at two separate sites give a curve with a maximum; separate reactions with cross-inhibition generate curves with either maxima or minima according to whether the Michaelis constants of the two substrates are smaller or larger than their inhibition constants in the other reactions. Although ambiguous results can sometimes arise, experimental strategies exist for avoiding them, for example working as close as possible to the lower of the two limiting rates. When tested with yeast hexokinase, the plot indicated phosphorylation of glucose and fructose at the same site. Conversely, with a mixture of yeast hexokinase and galactokinase it indicated phosphorylation of glucose and galactose at different sites. In both cases the observed behaviour agreed with the known properties of the enzymes. A slight modification to the definition of this plot allows it to be applied also to enzymes that deviate from Michaelis-Menten kinetics.