Correlation between rate of enzyme-substrate diffusional encounter and average Boltzmann factor around active site.

The utility of the average Boltzmann factor around the active site of an enzyme as the predictor of the electrostatic enhancement of the substrate binding rate is tested on a set of data on wild-type acetylcholinesterase and 18 charge mutants recently obtained by Brownian dynamics simulations. A good correlation between the average Boltzmann factors and the substrate binding rate constants is found. The effects of single charge mutations on both the Boltzmann factor and the substrate binding rate constant are modest, i.e., < 5 fold increase or decrease. This is consistent with the experimental results of Shafferman et al. but does not support their suggestion that the overall rate of the catalytic reaction is not limited by the diffusional encounter of acetylcholinesterase and its substrate.