Skip Navigation

Journal of Biochemistry 2005 137(2):177-187; doi:10.1093/jb/mvi017
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Maltsev, N.
Right arrow Articles by Gu, Z.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Maltsev, N.
Right arrow Articles by Gu, Z.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 2005 The Japanese Biochemical Society

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Molecular Mechanisms Involved in Robustness of Yeast Central Metabolism against Null Mutations

Natalia Maltsev1,3, Elizabeth M. Glass1, Galina Ovchinnikova1 and Zhenglong Gu2

1 Argonne National Laboratory, Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Argonne, IL 60439, USA; and 2 University of Chicago, Department of Ecology and Evolution, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

3 To whom correspondence should be addressed. Phone: +1-6302-525-195, Fax: +1-6302-525-986, E-mail: maltsev{at}mcs.anl.gov

Adaptive strategies employed by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae provide robustness and adaptability of its central metabolism. Since central metabolism in yeast has been well studied at the enzymatic and genetic levels, it represents an excellent system for evaluating the relative roles of duplicate genes and alternative metabolic pathways as possible mechanisms for the stability of central metabolism against null mutations. Yeast appears to employ a variety of mechanisms to ensure functional robustness of its central metabolism. Uninterrupted flow of energy and precursor metabolites through the pathways of central metabolism via glycolysis (EMP), pentose phosphate shunt (PPS), and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle are ensured by a variety of adaptive mechanisms. One of the most significant mechanisms appears to be gene duplication events that have produced a number of isozymes functioning under variable environmental and physiological conditions. Alternative pathways represent another important mechanism for increasing the robustness of the system. The robustness of the pathways of central metabolism is apparently higher than that of the other parts of metabolism, because of its exceptional importance to the organism’s vitality. The proportion of duplicated viable genes also is substantially larger in central metabolism than that in a pool of other metabolic genes.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Brief Funct Genomic ProteomicHome page
I. Barbaric, G. Miller, and T. N. Dear
Appearances can be deceiving: phenotypes of knockout mice
Brief Funct Genomic Proteomic, June 20, 2007; (2007) elm008v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.