Computer-based learning of cooperativity and allostery

The aim of this article is to facilitate the understanding ofenzyme cooperativity and allostery by undergraduate and postgraduatestudents with the aid of a graphic microcomputer. For this purposethe molecular models of Monod-Wyman-Changeux (MWC) and of Koshland-Nemethy-Filmer(KNF) are tested by showing how the different plots, direct,reciprocal, Scatchard and Hill, vary as do the parameters consideredin these models. The programs used (one for each model) progressfrom easy aspects to complicated ones without the interventionof the user (student). Nevertheless, ultimately, with the MWCmodel, after the introduction of heterotropic effectors, theusers can select the parameters in order to further their knowledge.This can be useful also for testing the kinetic behaviour ofmultisubunit enzymes which present cooperativity and which havebeen extensively described in the literature. Received on March 28, 1985; accepted on June 20, 1985