ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses kinetics of biochemical reactions and microbial processes in natural waters. It describes the factors affecting the kinetics of biological processes in aquatic environment. Regardless of the approach used for derivation and the contributions of early workers, the rate expression for single-substrate enzyme-catalyzed reactions is known as the Michaelis-Menten equation. Enzymatic reactions with two or three substrates and products are common, and a few even involve four substrates and/or products. The mechanisms for such reactions can be quite complicated, but if the concentrations of all but one substrate are held constant, it still will fit the Michaelis-Menten equation. The kinetic parameters in the equation then are functions of more fundamental constants and concentrations of the nonvaried substrates. To evaluate the kinetic parameters for an ordered bi-bi reaction, it is necessary to know which substrate is the leading one.
