Systematic identification of allosteric effectors in E. coli metabolism
A recent "PNAS" paper by the Sauer group (IMSB) systematically identified allosteric regulation mechanisms for the enzymes in central metabolism of E. coli.
Our understanding of allosteric regulation in metabolic control has primarily stemmed from decades of in vitro assays conducted under often arbitrary conditions. In this study, we tested 1’600 metabolite-enzyme combinations within central metabolism of E. coli, thereby presenting the first systematically identified functional protein-metabolite interaction network.
Despite the extensive characterization of central metabolism as one of the best-stood molecular networks, we doubled the known regulatory interactions. Moreover, we provide evidence that many existing database entries may lack physiological relevance. Several of the newly identified allosteric interactions uncover novel regulatory logic within some of the most fundamental metabolic pathways.
Link to the paper in external page "PNAS".