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Summary: Molecular Cell
Article
Central Carbon Metabolism as a Minimal Biochemical
Walk between Precursors for Biomass and Energy
Elad Noor,1,2 Eran Eden,2 Ron Milo,1 and Uri Alon2,*
1Department of Plant Sciences
2Department of Molecular Cell Biology
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
*Correspondence: uri.alon@weizmann.ac.il
DOI 10.1016/j.molcel.2010.08.031
SUMMARY
Central carbon metabolism uses a complex series of
enzymatic steps to convert sugars into metabolic
precursors. These precursors are then used to
generate the entire biomass of the cell. Are there
simplifying principles that can explain the structure
of such metabolic networks? Here we address this
question by studying central carbon metabolism in
E. coli. We use all known classes of enzymes that
work on carbohydrates to generate rules for convert-
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