What is it about?
This work tries to explore the alternative pathways that might implement glycolysis without the loss of carbon atoms as carbon dioxide and achieving a complete carbon efficiency in the cycle. A metabolic network was generated and pathways were searched for and analyzed, which led to the enumeration of several alternative pathways.
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Why is it important?
The pathways in the generated metabolic network were explored guided by the principle of thermodynamics: reactions with negative Gibbs free energy differences are thermodynamically favored. This analysis reveals several alternative thermodynamically favorable pathways beyond the experimentally reported three pathways. Additionally, molecules in the network, such as 3-hydroxypropionic acid, were identified that may have significant potential for further investigation.
Perspectives
The construction of Gibbs free energy profiles for the alternative pathways implementing non-oxidative glycolysis were attempted in the expanded molecular space. The expansion of the molecular space using reaction templates for the action of each enzyme, along with the ILP-based search for pathways, allows the exploration of molecular space without bias. Other molecules in the generated network were identified to be of interest, one of them being 3-hydroxypropionic acid.
Adittya Pal
Syddansk Universitet
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Thermodynamic free energy map for the non-oxidative glycolysis pathways, Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, June 2025, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s10822-025-00604-5.
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