Lineweaver-Burke diagram
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In biochemistry, a Lineweaver-Burke diagram (also called a Lineweaver-Burke plot or double reciprocal plot) is a graphical representation of the Lineweaver-Burke equation of enzyme kinetics:
- <math>{1 \over v} = {K_m \over v_{max}} {1 \over [S]} + {1 \over v_{max}}<math>
where v is the reaction velocity, Km is the Michaelis-Menten constant, vmax is the maximum reaction velocity, and [S] is the substrate concentration.
The Lineweaver-Burke plot is useful for rapidly identifying important terms in enzyme kinetics, such as Km and vmax. For instance, the y-intercept of such a graph is equivalent to the inverse of vmax; the x-intercept of the graph represents -1/Km.
The double reciprocal nature of the plot lends itself to overweighting the contribution of the least important data points (those when substrate concentration is minimal). Thus, the Lineweaver-Burke plot is considered inferior to other models of analysis such as the Eadie-Hofstee plot.