Quantitative approaches to the analysis of the control and regulation of microbial metabolism.
Recently, a number of novel ways of considering the control, regulation and thermodynamics of microbial physiology have been developed and applied. We here present an overview of the new concepts involved, of their limitations and of the most recent attempts to deal with those limitations. We conclude that there no longer exist reasons of principle for vagueness in discussions of the control of microbial physiology and energetics. Further, the novel conceptual methods serve to remove part of the discordance between holistic and reductionistic views of microbial physiology.
Division of Molecular Biology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam.
H V
HV
Westerhoff
W
W
van Heeswijk
D
D
Kahn
D B
DB
Kell
D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology*; D005974:Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase / Q000378:metabolism; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological
D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate; D005974:Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase