Martin Brand wrote:
>In my view, it is the partial response coefficients that really get to
>grips with the things that biochemists want to measure and express when
>they talk about control and regulation. Control coefficients themselves
>are seldom of interest to this group of people, in fact they are confusing
>and off-putting to most biochemists because they answer questions that
>traditional biochemistry (as opposed to biotechnology) doesn't ask and
>isn't interested in. The nomenclature proposed for these partial response
>coefficients is exactly right, and reflects current usage by us and by most
>others.
I agree with all this.
>>Although "elasticity coefficient" is horrible we are stuck with it.
>"Sensitivity" was so much better. However, I see no harm in abbreviating
>it to "elasticity" much of the time whilst retaining the full name for
>formal occasions.
and this, though I wouldn't myself bother with making an exception for
formal occasions.
>I would advocate playing down or dropping the word "metabolic" in the title
>"metabolic control analysis". The analysis is much more general than that,
>and the title appears to put off those involved in other related systems
>such as signal transduction or gene expression. I think we want to avoid
>the situation where we coin a new title whenever we apply or extend the
>analysis to these related fields. More generally, control analysis is
>related to the wider field of mathematical analyses of regulation, so we
>need to bear in mind this wider field when we try to harmonise
>nomenclature.
>and with this too. Although it would be wrong to regard Henrik's views as
holy scripture, it's perhaps worth noting that it seems to me that at least
in speech he was increasingly dropping the "metabolic" in his later years,
so I think he would have approved of Martin's suggestion.
Athel
Email: athel at ibsm.cnrs-mrs.fr
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