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Naive #biochemistry question: how would you define the difference between a steady state and a futile cycle?
@TIR_scienceblog In my mind a steady state is an outcome (I.e. stable protein levels), while a futile cycle would be a (very common) means to achieve such a state. This is purely intuitive though, don't have a ref for that distinction.
@TIR_scienceblog I would say that steady state refers to the typical flow of a pathway while futile cycle specifically refers to steps that run against one another so the pathway goes nowhere.