Lineweaver-Burk plot
MCAT glossary · Biological & Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems
Definition
Double-reciprocal plot (1/v vs 1/[S]) of M-M kinetics; y-intercept = 1/V_max, x-intercept = -1/K_m.
Lineweaver-Burk plot in plain English
Enzymes speed up reactions, and scientists want two numbers: the top speed the enzyme can hit (V_max) and how much fuel it needs to run at half speed (K_m). The problem is the normal graph of enzyme speed is a bendy curve that's hard to read exact numbers off of. The Lineweaver-Burk trick is to flip both axes upside-down (plot 1/v against 1/[S]), which magically turns that curve into a straight line — and straight lines are easy to read. Where the line crosses the y-axis gives you 1/V_max, and where it crosses the x-axis gives you -1/K_m, so you just read off the two numbers you wanted.
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Practice Lineweaver-Burk plot
How will the x-intercept of the Lineweaver-Burk plot change compared to the uninhibited sample?
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