Dynamics aspects of long distance functional interactions between membrane-bound enzymes

The aim of this mini review is to study how an organized charged milieu, such as a membrane, may alter functional long-distance interactions between bound enzymes. Two questions are more specifically considered. The first is to know whether the overall response of a bound enzyme is dependent upon the degree of spatial order of fixed charges and enzymes molecules. The second is to determine whether electric interaction between the fixed charges of the matrix and the charged substrate may generate hysteresis loop of substrate concentration as well as oscillations of this concentration at the surface of the membranes. These effects that have been shown to occur at the surface of membranes, are not the result of intrinsic properties of enzymes. They appear as the consequence of the interplay between functional long-distance interactions between bound enzyme systems and electric repulsion effects of mobile ions. They may be viewed as supramolecular devices that allow storing information from the external milieu.