Stieltjes integration and differential geometry: A model for enzyme recognition, discrimination, and catalysis (Q2266681)

A model for enzymic catalysis is presented using the mathematical theories of differential geometry and Stieltjes integration. Results from the mathematical theory of the Stieltjes integral are discussed together with their biological interpretation. The difference between structural and functional proteins is contrasted and analogues of enzyme cofactors, modifications, and regulation are given. Various techniques of locating the active site of enzymes are also given. A total variation metric, which is particularly useful for detecting similarities among proteins is constructed. Stepped-helical approximations of the backbone space curves of enzymes provide a concrete computational tool with which to calculate the Stieltjes integrals that model enzymic catalysis by replacing the integral with a finite series. The duality between enzymes and substrates is shown to be a consequence of the mathematical duality of Banach spaces. The Stieltjes integrals of enzyme-substrate interactions are hence shown to be bounded bilinear functionals. The mechanism of enzymic catalysis, the transformation from substrate to product, is also formulated in the Stieltjes integration context via the mathematical theory of adjoints. The paper closes with suggestions for generalizations, prospects for future studies, and a review of the correspondence beween mathematical and biological concepts. In this final section further mathematical analogues of other aspects of the biology of enzymes are also discussed.