Insights from Microbial Transition State Theory on Monod's Affinity Constant

Pablo Ugalde-Salas (1) , Elie Desmond-Le Quemener (1) , Jérôme Harmand (1) , Alain Rapaport (2) , Théodore Bouchez (3)

1 LBE - Laboratoire de Biotechnologie de l'Environnement [Narbonne]
2 MISTEA - Mathématiques, Informatique et STatistique pour l'Environnement et l'Agronomie
3 UR PROSE - Procédés biotechnologiques au service de l'environnement

Microbial transition state theory (MTS) offers a theoretically explicit mathematical model for substrate limited microbial growth. By considering a first order approximation of the MTS equation one recovers the well-known Monod’s expression for growth, which was regarded as a purely empirical function. The harvest volume of a cell as defined in MTS theory can then be related to the affinity concept, giving a new physical interpretation to it, and a new way to determine its value. Consequences of such a relationship are discussed.

Domaines: Biotechnologies; Microbiologie et Parasitologie; Systèmes dynamiques [math.DS]

Pablo Ugalde-Salas, Elie Desmond-Le Quemener, Jérôme Harmand, Alain Rapaport, Théodore Bouchez. Insights from Microbial Transition State Theory on Monod's Affinity Constant. Scientific Reports, 2020, 10 (5323), pp.5323. ⟨10.1038/s41598-020-62213-6⟩. ⟨hal-02504942⟩