Question

14. HIV-1 Protease is an enzyme made by HIV that hydrolyzes the long viral polyprotein into their functional protein components. HIV patients are treated with inhibitors of HIV Protease, which in turn inhibit HIV replication. Two competitive inhibitors of HIV-1 Protease are saquinavir (K = 0.40 nM) and ritonavir (K1 = 0.015 nM). (K, are dissociation constants for the reaction IE + I + E, where I is the inhibitor and E is HIV Protease.) a) Which would have a higher apparent Km, an HIV-1 protease kinetics assay with 1 nM of saquinavir, or the same experiment with 1 nM ritonavir? Give a 1-2 sentence explanation of your answer, and an equation if necessary. b) Which would have a higher Vmax? HIV protease in the presence of the inhibitor inbitors for Britonavire saor in both have the same vir k =