Metabolic pathway, control

Time-Scale Separation and Metabolic Pathways Control... 

TIME-SCALE SEPARATION AND METABOLIC PATHWAYS CONTROL... 

If the kinetics of the reaction disobey the Michaelis-Menten equation, the violation is revealed by a departure from linearity in these straight-line graphs. We shall see in the next chapter that such deviations from linearity are characteristic of the kinetics of regulatory enzymes known as allosteric enzymes. Such regulatory enzymes are very important in the overall control of metabolic pathways. 

FIGURE 18.12 The use of inhibitors to reveal the sequence of reactions in a metabolic pathway, (a) Control Under normal conditions, the steady-state concentrations of a series of intermediates will be determined by the relative activities of the enzymes in the pathway, (b) Plus inhibitor In the presence of an inhibitor (in this case, an inhibitor of enzyme 4), intermediates upstream of the metabolic block (B, C, and D) accumulate, revealing themselves as intermediates in the pathway. The concentration of intermediates lying downstream (E and F) will fall. 

Several of the problems associated with whole cell bioprocesses are related to the highly effective metabolic control of microbial cells. Because cells are so well regulated, substrate or product inhibition often limits the concentration of desired product that can be achieved. This problem is often difficult to solve because of a poor understanding of the kinetic characteristics of the metabolic pathway leading to the desired product. 

In order to develop a rational approach to improving rates of metabolite production, it is necessary to consider the fate of the nutrients that are required for its synthesis. However, overcoming the major flux control points within a metabolic pathway may not lead to metabolite overproduction if the energetic consequences of the alteration are unfavourable to the organism. 

In both intermediate and maximum rates of respiration, control is distributed between several different steps, including the activity of the adenine nucleotide translocator (Groen et al., 1983). It is now recognized that the idea of a simple rate-limiting step for a metabolic pathway is simplistic and that control is shared by all steps although to different extents (Kacserand Bums, 1978 Fell, 1992). Each step in a pathway has a flux control coefficient (FCC) defined as ... 

Controlling an Enzyme That Catalyzes a Rate-Limiting Reaction Regulates an Entire Metabolic Pathway... 

A common characteristic of metabolic pathways is that the product of one enzyme in sequence is the substrate for the next enzyme and so forth. In vivo, biocatalysis takes place in compartmentalized cellular structure as highly organized particle and membrane systems. This allows control of enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Several multienzyme systems have been studied by many researchers. They consist essentially of membrane- [104] and matrix- [105,106] bound enzymes or coupled enzymes in low water media [107]. 

The wide gap between the two opposing theories, replication first and metabolism first , was analysed by Pross from the Ben Gurion University of the Negev (Israel). Pross concludes that replication came first He is convinced that a causality between the two theories can only be established if it is assumed that the replication-first thesis is correct. His analysis also shows that more of the experimental results and theoretical rationales favour the replication thesis. The author finds his assumption justified that life processes are strongly kinetically controlled and that the development of metabolic pathways can only be understood if life is considered as a manifestation of replicative chemistry (Pross, 2004). 

A basic set of metabolic pathways with controlled concentration of particular small... 

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