Rate theories for biologists

Some of the rate theories that are most useful for modeling biological processes are reviewed. By delving into some of the details and subtleties in the development of thetheories, the review will hopefully help the reader gain a more than superficial perspective.Examples are presented to illustrate how rate theories can be used to generate insight at themicroscopic level into biomolecular behaviors. An attempt is made to clear up a numberof misconceptions in the literature regarding popular rate theories, including the appearanceof Planck’s constant in the transition-state theory and the Smoluchowski result as an upperlimit for protein–protein and protein–DNA association rate constants. Future work incombining the implementation of rate theories through computer simulations withexperimental probes of rate processes, and in modeling effects of intracellular environmentsso that theories can be used for generating rate constants for systems biology studies isparticularly exciting