Cell Survival Enabled by Leakage of a Labile Metabolic Intermediate.

ABSTRACT: Many metabolites are generated in one step of a biochemical pathway and consumed in a subsequent step. Such metabolic intermediates are often reactive molecules which, if allowed to freely diffuse in the intracellular milieu, could lead to undesirable side reactions and even become toxic to the cell. Therefore, metabolic intermediates are often protected as protein-bound species and directly transferred between enzyme active sites in multi-functional enzymes, multi-enzyme complexes, and metabolons. Sequestration of reactive metabolic intermediates thus contributes to metabolic efficiency. It is not known, however, whether this evolutionary adaptation can be relaxed in response to challenges to organismal survival. Here, we report evolutionary repair experiments on Escherichia coli cells in

SUBMITTER: Medina-Carmona E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9989741 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature