Lineweaver-Burk plot

In biochemistry, the Lineweaver-Burk plot (or double reciprocal plot) is a graphical representation of the Lineweaver-Burk equation of enzyme kinetics, described by Hans Lineweaver and Dean Burk in 1934^[1].

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Derivation

The plot provides a useful graphical method for analysis of the Michaelis-Menten equation:

Taking the reciprocal gives

where V is the reaction velocity, K_m is the Michaelis-Menten constant, V_max is the maximum reaction velocity, and [S] is the substrate concentration.

Use

The Lineweaver-Burk plot was widely used to determine important terms in enzyme kinetics, such as K_m and V_max before the wide availability of powerful computers and non-linear regression software, as the y-intercept of such a graph is equivalent to the inverse of V_max; the x-intercept of the graph represents -1/K_m. It also gives a quick, visual impression of the different forms of enzyme inhibition.

The double reciprocal plot distorts the error structure of the data, and it is therefore unreliable for the determination of enzyme kinetic parameters. Although it is still used for representation of kinetic data^[2], non-linear regression or alternative linear forms of the Michaelis-Menten equation such as the Eadie-Hofstee plot are generally used for the calculation of parameters^[3].

When used for determining the type of enzyme inhibition, the Lineweaver-Burk plot can distinguish competitive, noncompetitive and uncompetitive inhibitors. Competitive inhibitors have the same y-intercept as uninhibited enzyme (since V_max is unaffected by competitive inhibitors the inverse of Vmax also doesn't change) but there are different slopes and x-intercepts between the two data sets. Noncompetitive inhibition produces plots with the same x-intercept as uninhibited enzyme (K_m is unaffected) but different slopes and y-intercepts. Uncompetitive inhibition causes different intercepts on both the y and x axes but the same slope.

See also

• Michaelis-Menten kinetics
• Eadie-Hofstee diagram
• Hanes-Woolf plot

Double Reciprocal Plot

References