Abstract
Bacteria grown on a mixture of carbon substrates exhibit two utilization patterns: hierarchical utilization (HU) and simultaneous utilization (SU). How and why cells adopt these different behaviors remains poorly understood despite decades of research. Recent studies address various open questions from multiple viewpoints. From a mechanistic perspective, it was found that flux sensors play a central role in the regulation of substrate utilization, accounting for the known dependences on single-substrate growth rates, substrate concentrations, and the point where the substrate enters central metabolism. From a physiological perspective, several recent studies suggested HU or SU as growth-optimizing strategies through efficient allocation of essential proteome resources. However, other studies demonstrate that a significant fraction of the proteome is dedicated to functions apparently unnecessary for growth, casting doubt on explanations based on slight efficiency gains. From an ecological perspective, recent theoretical studies suggest that HU can help increase species diversity in bacterial communities.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 172-178 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Current Opinion in Microbiology |
| Volume | 63 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We are grateful to helpful discussions with Leonardo Pucciani-Mori. This work is supported by the National Institutes of Health through Grant R01GM109069 to TH.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
Funding
We are grateful to helpful discussions with Leonardo Pucciani-Mori. This work is supported by the National Institutes of Health through Grant R01GM109069 to TH.
