Underground metabolism: network-level perspective and biotechnological potential.

Area of Science:

• Molecular Systems Biology
• Evolutionary Biochemistry
• Metabolic Engineering

Background:

• New metabolic pathways often evolve from promiscuous activities of existing enzymes.
• These 'underground' activities are key to evolutionary adaptation and bypassing genetic defects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe systems biology advances for mapping and analyzing 'underground' enzymatic activities.
• To predict and understand the contribution of these activities to novel metabolic functions.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing systems biology approaches to identify and map 'underground' enzymatic activities.
• Integrating computational models with experimental methods to study metabolic evolution.

Main Results:

• 'Underground' activities are prevalent in cellular metabolism.
• These activities can form novel pathways enabling adaptation or compensating for genetic lesions.

Conclusions:

• Systems biology can reveal the evolution of metabolic pathways through enzyme promiscuity.
• This understanding can advance biotechnology by exploiting 'underground' metabolic functions.