A Mechanism of Gene Interaction

Abstract

The biochemical reactions that make up metabolism are arranged in multi-enzyme systems, the component step reactions of which are gene controlled. The series of multi-enzyme systems that operate in an organism are not independent nor are their rates controlled solely by the mass law. Multi-enzyme systems interact by various mechanisms: coupling by inhibition being characteristic of varied types of biological phenomena. The interaction of multi-enzyme systems serves to control and give direction to the whole of metabolism. Non-allelic gene interaction is the result of the interaction of the multi-enzyme systems controlled by the genes rather than interaction of the genes themselves.