A Rationale for Monod′s Biochemical Growth Kinetics

A rationale is presented for Monod′s biochemical kinetics which has hitherto been viewed as purely empirical. It is shown here that this expression, which continues to be used by modelers of biochemical processes, has indeed an origin that relates to the detailed treatment of metabolism. This rationale originates from the resolution of the metabolic network into so-called elementary modes and assumes steady state for every metabolite in each elementary mode.