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Updated: Dec 18, 2025

Measuring Enzymatic Stability by Isothermal Titration Calorimetry
Published on: March 26, 2019
Enzymes as Parts in Need of Replacement - and How to Extend Their Working Life
Nathan D Tivendale1, Andrew D Hanson2, Christopher S Henry3
1ARC Centre for Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, M316, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
Abstract:
Enzymes catalyze reactions in vivo at different rates and each enzyme molecule has a lifetime limit before it is degraded and replaced to enable catalysis to continue. Considering these rates together as a unitless ratio of catalytic cycles until replacement (CCR) provides a new quantitative tool to assess the replacement schedule of and energy investment into enzymes as they relate to function. Here, we outline the challenges of determining CCRs and new approaches to overcome them and then assess the CCRs of selected enzymes in bacteria and plants to reveal a range of seven orders of magnitude for this ratio. Modifying CCRs in plants holds promise to lower cellular costs, to tailor enzymes for particular environments, and to breed enzyme improvements for crop productivity.
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