Abstract
The use of elasticity coefficients and flux-control coefficients in a quantitative treatment of control is discussed, with photosynthetic sucrose synthesis as an example. Experimental values for elasticities for the cytosolic fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase and sucrose phosphate synthase are derived from their in vitro properties, and from an analysis of the in vivo relation between fluxes and metabolite levels. An empirical factor α , describing the response of the fructose 2,6-bisphosphate regulator cycle to fructose 6-phosphate is described, and an expression is derived relating α to the elasticities of the enzymes involved in this regulator cycle. The in vivo values for elasticities and α are then used in a modified form of the connectivity theorem to estimate the flux control coefficients of the cytosolic fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase and sucrose phosphate synthase during rapid photosynthetic sucrose synthesis.