Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 110, Nos. 1/2, January 2003. p. 137-181.
Many studies performed in recent years indicate a rich stochastic dynamics of transitions between a multitude of conformational substates in native proteins. A slow character of this dynamics is the reason why the steady-state kinetics of biochemical processes involving protein enzymes cannot be described in terms of conventional chemical kinetics, i.e., reaction rate constants. A more sophisticated language of mean first-passage times has to be used...