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150 Years of the Mass Action Law

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  • Eberhard O Voit
  • Harald A Martens
  • Stig W Omholt

Abstract

This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the law of mass action. This law is often assumed to have been “there” forever, but it has its own history, background, and a definite starting point. The law has had an impact on chemistry, biochemistry, biomathematics, and systems biology that is difficult to overestimate. It is easily recognized that it is the direct basis for computational enzyme kinetics, ecological systems models, and models for the spread of diseases. The article reviews the explicit and implicit role of the law of mass action in systems biology and reveals how the original, more general formulation of the law emerged one hundred years later ab initio as a very general, canonical representation of biological processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Eberhard O Voit & Harald A Martens & Stig W Omholt, 2015. "150 Years of the Mass Action Law," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(1), pages 1-7, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pcbi00:1004012
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ryan N Gutenkunst & Joshua J Waterfall & Fergal P Casey & Kevin S Brown & Christopher R Myers & James P Sethna, 2007. "Universally Sloppy Parameter Sensitivities in Systems Biology Models," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(10), pages 1-8, October.
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    1. Mathias Foo & Declan G Bates & Ozgur E Akman, 2020. "A simplified modelling framework facilitates more complex representations of plant circadian clocks," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-34, March.
    2. Kaitaniemi, Pekka & Lintunen, Anna & Sievänen, Risto, 2020. "Power-law estimation of branch growth," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 416(C).
    3. Vasiliki Bitsouni & Nikolaos Gialelis & Ioannis G. Stratis, 2022. "Rigorous Analysis of the Quasi-Steady-State Assumption in Enzyme Kinetics," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-29, March.
    4. Vinh Q. Mai & Martin Meere, 2021. "Modelling the Phosphorylation of Glucose by Human hexokinase I," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(18), pages 1-24, September.

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