The analysis of kinetic data in biochemistry. A critical evaluation of methods.

A workshop on ‘The analysis of data’ was held in Edinburgh during the Joint Meeting of The Biochemical Society, the Gesellschaft fur Biologische Chemie and the Schweizerische Gesellschaft fur Biochemie (September 9-12, 1975). This workshop was organized by B. Hess, Max-Planck-Institute, Dortmund, and J. H. Ottaway, University of Edinburgh. Most of the material contained in the individual papers has been reported elsewhere [l-S] , or will be reported in the Transactions of The Biochemical Society so this report will be confined to the general discussion, which was lead by B. Hess and was based on a paper prepared by M. Markus. The aim was to proceed systematically through the many methods that have been proposed for analysis of enzyme kinetic data, to delineate the special advantages and disadvantages of each. We hope that the following tabulation, distilled from that discussion, will be helpful as a guide for choosing between methods. List A compares measuring methods (progress curves and initial velocity measurements) and list B evaluation methods (linear and non-linear methods).