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Updated: Sep 29, 2026

The Use of Chemostats in Microbial Systems Biology
Published on: October 14, 2013
Flux control of the bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate:glucose phosphotransferase system and the effect of diffusion
Christof Francke1, Hans V Westerhoff, Joke G Blom
1BioCentrum Amsterdam, Dept of Molecular Cell Physiology, Free University. cfrancke@bio.vu.nl
Abstract:
We analyzed the role of diffusion and cell size on the flux control properties of the glucose-PTS of Escherichia coli, in silicon cells under various metabolic conditions. To our surprise, the influence of the concentration of phosphoryl-donor PEP on the distribution of control was small. We found for cells of bacterial size that PTS-flux control was mainly located in processes taking place in the membrane and that diffusion hardly controlled the flux (< 2.8 %). Enlargement of the cells shifted the control from membrane to cytoplasm and from process rates to diffusion rates, the latter now having a total control of about 38 %. In the presence of glucose, nearly all diffusion flux control resided in the component that links the cytoplasmic processes to those in the membrane.
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