Carbohydrate metabolism in Archaea: current insights into unusual enzymes and pathways and their regulation.

ABSTRACT: The metabolism of Archaea, the third domain of life, resembles in its complexity those of Bacteria and lower Eukarya. However, this metabolic complexity in Archaea is accompanied by the absence of many "classical" pathways, particularly in central carbohydrate metabolism. Instead, Archaea are characterized by the presence of unique, modified variants of classical pathways such as the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) pathway and the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway. The pentose phosphate pathway is only partly present (if at all), and pentose degradation also significantly differs from that known for bacterial model organisms. These modifications are accompanied by the invention of "new," unusual enzymes which cause fundamental consequences for the underlying regulatory principles, and classical a

SUBMITTER: Brasen C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3957730 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature