Cold enzymes: a hot topic

Chemical reaction rates often show a strong temperature dependency and a decrease of 10°C from room temperature typically divides the rate by a factor oscillating between 1.5 and 4. The decrease of the rate constant k indeed obeys an equation proposed by Svante Arrhenius as early as in 1889: $$K = A{e^{ - Ea/RT}}$$ (1) in which E a is the activation energy, R the gas constant (8.31 kJ mol−1) and T the temperature in Kelvin.