Figure 1

Schematic illustrating the three models considered in this article. (A) Model I: Michaelis-Menten reaction occurring in a compartment volume of sub-micron dimensions (shown by dashed rectangle). Substrate input into compartment occurs via a Poisson process i.e. diffusion-mediated substrate transport. (B) Model II: As for Model I but now substrate is input into compartment in groups or bursts of M molecules at a time i.e. vesicle-mediated substrate transport along microtubules (MT). (C) Model III: Michaelis-Menten reaction with competitive inhibitor (I) occurring in a small subcellular compartment. Substrate transport as in previous two models.