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In biochemistry, a rate-limiting step is a reaction step that controls the rate of a series of biochemical reactions. [1] [2] The statement is, however, a misunderstanding of how a sequence of enzyme-catalyzed reaction steps operate. Rather than a single step controlling the rate, it has been discovered that multiple steps control the rate.
The process of chemical reaction can be considered as involving the diffusion of reactants until they encounter each other in the right stoichiometry and form an activated complex which can form the product species. The observed rate of chemical reactions is, generally speaking, the rate of the slowest or "rate determining" step.
The rate-determining step is then the step with the largest Gibbs energy difference relative either to the starting material or to any previous intermediate on the diagram. [8] [9] Also, for reaction steps that are not first-order, concentration terms must be considered in choosing the rate-determining step. [8] [6]
To address such a paradox, Kuo-Chen Chou and his co-workers proposed a model by taking into account the spatial factor and force field factor between the enzyme and its substrate and found that the upper limit could reach 10 10 M −1 s −1, [6] [7] [8] and can be used to explain some surprisingly high reaction rates in molecular biology. [5 ...
Although these mechanisms are often a complex series of steps, there is typically one rate-determining step that determines the overall kinetics. This rate-determining step may be a chemical reaction or a conformational change of the enzyme or substrates, such as those involved in the release of product(s) from the enzyme.
The limiting reagent (or limiting reactant or limiting agent) in a chemical reaction is a reactant that is totally consumed when the chemical reaction is completed. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The amount of product formed is limited by this reagent, since the reaction cannot continue without it.
The process is similar to that of bacterial termination, but unlike bacterial termination, there is a universal release factor, eRF1, that recognizes all three stop codons. Upon termination, the ribosome is disassembled and the completed polypeptide is released. eRF3 is a ribosome-dependent GTPase that helps eRF1 release the completed polypeptide.
It is important to note that even while kinetic analysis is a powerful tool for determining the stoichiometry of the turn-over limiting transition state relative to the ground state, it cannot answer all mechanistic questions. It is possible for two mechanisms to be kinetically indistinguishable, especially under catalytic conditions.