Free-CoA mediated regulation of intermediary and central metabolism: An hypothesis, which accounts for the excretion of α-ketoglutarate during aerobic growth of E. coli on acetate

El-Mansi, Mansi

Abstract

During growth of Escherichia coli on acetate, phosphotransacetylase and -ketoglutarate dehydrogenase are in direct competition for their common co-factor, HS-CoA. Such competition is resolved in favour of phosphotransacetylase, thus rendering -ketoglutarate dehydrogenase rate-limiting (controlling) and, in turn, creating a bottleneck at the level of -ketoglutarate in the Krebs cycle. Accumulation of -ketoglutarate is then balanced by its excretion. Addition of pyruvate, glucose or any glycolytic intermediate to acetate-grown culture relieves such a bottleneck by reversing carbon flow through phosphotransacetylase to give acetyl phosphate and much-needed HS-CoA. The urgent need for HS-CoA by the primordial organism might therefore have provided the selective pressure that led to the co-evolution of phosphotransacetylase and the two-malate synthase isoenzymes.

Citation

El-Mansi, M. (2005). Free-CoA mediated regulation of intermediary and central metabolism: An hypothesis, which accounts for the excretion of α-ketoglutarate during aerobic growth of E. coli on acetate. Research in Microbiology, 156(8), 874-879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resmic.2005.04.008

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2005
• Deposit Date: Jul 14, 2008
• Print ISSN: 0923-2508
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 156
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 874-879
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resmic.2005.04.008
• Keywords: Escherichia coli; Acetate metabolism; -Ketoglutarate excretion; Free CoA; Acetyl CoA; Phosphotransacetylase; Intermediary metabolism; Krebs cycle
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/1722
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resmic.2005.04.008