Seed germination process has closely relation with material transformation and energy exchange within the seed. Study on its thermal effect is important for understanding the mechanism and the influencing factors of the seed germination. The thermogenetic curves of seed germination ofRobinia pseudoacacia was measured by a new-type conductive microcalorimeter made in Wuhan University. The relationship was analyzed between the germination thermogenetic regulation and seed germination physiology. The thermogentic curves were further analyzed by thermokinetic theory to obtain the dynamic parameters and the thermokinetic model on seed germination ofRobinia pseudoacacia. The relationship of the thermogenetic power (μ w) and the germination time(h) of the germination process of 20 grainsRobinia pseudocacia seeds at 25°C wasP=208.77/[0.1937+0.8063exp(?0.06563t)]
Na+/K+-ATPase (EC 3.6.1.3) is an important membrane-bound enzyme. By using microcalorimetry, the thermokinetic method was developed to kinetic studies on Na+/K+-ATPase for the first time. Compared with other ones, the method provided accurate measurements of not only thermodynamic data but also the kinetic data. At 310.15 K and pH=7.4, the molar reaction enthalpy rHm was measured as (-40.408±1.9) kJ·mol-1. The Michaelis constant Km was determined to be (0.479±0.020)×10-3 mol·L-1 and consistent with literature figure which is about 0.5×10-3 mol·L-1. The maximum velocity Vmax obtained was (0.681±0.026) 靘ol Pi·min-1·mg protein-1. All of the data have good repeatability and self-consistency. The reliability of thermokinetic method was verified by the experimental results and further confirmed by colorimetric studies. Moreover, the effect of enzyme pre-dilution on its activities was also investigated.
A new thermokinetic reduced extent method for studying of the reversible competitive inhibition of single sub-strate enzyme-catalyzed reactions was proposed in this paper. The reaction that arginase-catalyzed hydrolysis of L-arginine to L-ornithine and urea and the inhibition of this reaction by the product, L-ornithine, and exogenous L-lysine were studied at 37 ℃ in 40 mmolL-1 sodium barbiturate-HCl buffer solution (pH=9.4). Michealis con-stant Km for arginine and maximum velocity Vm of the reaction were determined to be 5.14 mmolL-1 and 1.13× 10-2 mmolL-1s-1, respectively. The product inhibition constant KP and inhibitory constant KI of L-lysine were de-termined to be 1.18 and 5.6 mmolL-1, respectively. All the results have better repeatability and self-consistency and are in agreement with literature values. This new method using more direct thermal information from the proc-ess would give more reliable kinetic information than the traditional initial rate method.
