The functional relationship between the polymerization and catalytic activity of beef liver glutamate dehydrogenase. III. Analysis of Thusius' critique.

Thusius' critique (1977) of our work (Cohen et al., 1975,1976; Cohen &; Benedek, 1976), on the functional relationship between the equilibrium polymerization and catalytic activity of beef liver glutamate dehydrogenase, is refuted on a point by point basis. Thusius' critique is primarily based on data relating to the kinetics of the polymerization-depolymerization reaction. It is shown that such data are not in contradiction to our equilibrium thermodynamic analysis, for this analysis makes absolutely no predictions regarding the kinetics of the polymerization-depolymerization reaction. Moreover, the important functional relationship between the polymerization and allosteric control of beef liver glutamate dehydrogenase has, in any event, been clearly demonstrated on a purely experimental basis. Furthermore, our theoretical model is the only proposed model capable of quantitatively explaining the available data on the detailed equilibrium polymer distribution and the associated level of catalytic activity as functions of effector and enzyme concentrations.