Single molecule Michaelis-Menten equation beyond quasistatic disorder

The classic Michaelis-Menten equation describes the catalytic activities for ensembles of enzyme molecules very well. But recent single-molecule experiments showed that the waiting time distribution and other properties of single enzyme molecules were not consistent with the prediction based on the ensemble viewpoint. They have contributed to the slow conformational changes of a single enzyme in the catalytic processes. In this work, we study the general dynamics of single enzymes in the presence of dynamic disorder. We find that, within the time separation regimes, i.e., the slow reaction and nondiffusion limits, the Michaelis-Menten equation holds exactly. In particular, by employing the decoupling approximation we demonstrate analytically that the classic Michaelis-Menten equation is still an excellent approximation in the presence of general dynamic disorder.