[Carbon catabolite repression or how bacteria choose their favorite sugars]

Carbon catabolite repression is an important regulatory mechanism allowing bacteria, but also yeast and fungi, to preferentially use easily metabolizable carbon sources (like glucose) over relatively less favorable carbon sources (for example, organic acids and alcohols). This phenomenon is illustrated by diauxic growth during which bacteria assimilate firstly energy-efficient and rapidly metabolizable sugars then less-favored carbohydrates. A variety of molecular mechanisms are involved in carbon catabolite repression in order to control not only the expression of genes involved in the utilization of alternative carbon sources but also the expression of genes involved in several processes like virulence, competence etc. In this review, are described the main molecular mechanisms found in enterobacteria and in firmicutes and the importance of the sugar-uptake phosphotransferase system for these molecular mechanisms.