Computing phenomenologic Adair-Klotz constants from microscopic MWC parameters

We propose a way of computing apparent Adair-Klotz constants from microscopic association constants and allosteric parameters of a generalised concerted model with two different states (R and T), with an arbitrary number of non-equivalent ligand binding sites. We apply this framework to compute Adair-Klotz constants from existing models of calmodulin and hemoglobin, two extreme cases of the general framework.The validation of computational models requires methods to relate model parameters to experimentally observable quantities. We provide such a method for comparing generalised MWC allosteric models to experimentally determined Adair-Klotz constants.Quantitative descriptions of biological processes are one of the main activities in Life Science research, whether in physiology, biochemistry or molecular and cellular biology. They offer a way of characterising biological systems, measuring subtle effects of perturbations, discriminating between alternative hypotheses, making and testing predictions, and following changes over time. There can be many different ways to describe the same biological process. Phenomenological descriptions provide a way of relating input and outcome of a given process, without requiring a detailed knowledge about the nature of the process or possible intermediate steps. Since they provide a direct link between input and output, they can be easily applied to experimental results. On the other hand, Systems Biology favours more mechanistic representations, that aim at exploring how exactly behaviours of systems emerge from intrinsic properties and interactions of elements at a lower level. Using the former descriptions to build and validate the latter representations may prove a challenge in some cases.Several types of descriptions may co-exist for a given biological problem. One of these problems is the binding of ligand to a protein with several binding sites, and the apparent cooperativity observed in this context, for which various fram