Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 2, 2026

Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles
Published on: December 31, 2019
Metabolic engineering of plants: the role of membrane transport
Reinhard Kunze1, Wolf B Frommer, Ulf-Ingo Flügge
1Botanical Institute, University of Cologne, Gyrhofstrasse 15, 50931 Cologne, Germany. reinhard.kunze@uni-koeln.de
Abstract:
As plant cells are highly compartmentalized, the entrance and exit points of metabolic pathways frequently involve membrane passages of solutes. Transport proteins are often located in strategic positions to control whole pathways and have to be considered in the development of metabolic engineering strategies. Here, we discuss examples of pathways (in carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid and secondary compound synthesis, and mineral metabolism) in which membrane transport steps are considered to exert major control and in which transport proteins have been employed to manipulate metabolic fluxes.
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