With an allosteric inhibitor (AI), you mentioned that either Vmax or Km can
be changed. Then can I say that the apparent Km will be the average of the
weakened enzyme molecules and those remaining uninhibited, thus the apparent Km
will increase?
From its remote binding site, an AI could affect the shape of the substrate
binding site, thus changing the binding affinity andthe apparent Km. In a
mixture of inhibited and non-inhibited enzyme molecules, I would expect the Vo
vs. S curve to be complex (biphasic?) and not yield an "average" Km.
Allosteric inhibition (AI) can be similar to either CI or NCI. If after
the AI binds to the enzyme on the allosteric site, the active site of the
enzyme is so distorted that S can not bind, then effectively AI serves as a
"competitive" inhibitor. And it will only affect Km but not Vmax. Am I right?
It affects Km in a manner different from that of a competitive inhibitor, since
it binds at a different site. It is changing the Km of the enzyme by "changing"
the enzyme. Actually it brings about this change by stabilizing a natural
alternative inactive state of the enzyme, see Purves tet, p. 129-130.
NCI and allosteric inhibitors seem very similar, but why do NCI leave
Km unaffected but allosteric inhibitors can affect Km?
Non-competitive inhibitors do not affect Km by definition.
Is allosteric inhibition "all or nothing?" That is, compet. inhibition
isn't all or nothing: if you add enough substrate you mask inhibitor's
effect. What about Non-compet. inhibition? How would you classify that?
None of these inhibitions is all-or-nothing when considering a population of
molecules (which we almost always should do). At certain intermediate
concentrations of inhibitors, you always have partial inhibition overall.