ArticleThe EMBO journal2023
Acetate is a beneficial nutrient for E. coli at low glycolytic flux.
Article in The EMBO journal, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Temporal dynamics and microbial interactions shaping the gut resistome in early infancy.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Trihydroxybenzaldoximes are Redox Cycling Inhibitors of ThDP-Dependent DXP Synthase.ACS chemical biology · 2025Article
- Engineering an Overflow-Responsive Regulation System for Balancing Cellular Redox and Optimizing Microbial Production.Biotechnology and bioengineering · 2025Article
- Trihydroxybenzaldoximes are redox cycling inhibitors of ThDP-dependent DXP synthase.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Free-energy transduction mechanisms shape the flux space of metabolic networks.Biophysical journal · 2024Article
- Modulating bacterial function utilizing A knowledge base of transcriptional regulatory modules.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
- IntegrativemSystems · 2024Article
- PhysioFit: a software to quantify cell growth parameters and extracellular fluxes.Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) · 2024Article
- ATP biosensor reveals microbial energetic dynamics and facilitates bioproduction.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Acetate is a beneficial nutrient for E. coli at low glycolytic flux.The EMBO journal · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Acetate, a major by-product of glycolytic metabolism in Escherichia coli and many other microorganisms, has long been considered a toxic waste compound that inhibits microbial growth. This counterproductive auto-inhibition represents a major problem in biotechnology and has puzzled the scientific community for decades. Recent studies have however revealed that acetate is also a co-substrate of glycolytic nutrients and a global regulator of E. coli metabolism and physiology. Here, we used a systems biology strategy to investigate the mutual regulation of glycolytic and acetate metabolism in E. coli. Computational and experimental analyses demonstrate that decreasing the glycolytic flux enhances co-utilization of acetate with glucose. Acetate metabolism thus compensates for the reduction in glycolytic flux and eventually buffers carbon uptake so that acetate, rather than being toxic, actually enhances E. coli growth under these conditions. We validated this mechanism using three orthogonal strategies: chemical inhibition of glucose uptake, glycolytic mutant strains, and alternative substrates with a natively low glycolytic flux. In summary, acetate makes E. coli more robust to glycolytic perturbations and is a valuable nutrient, with a beneficial effect on microbial growth.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.