Flux controls flux – from fundamental metabolic insights to bacterial persistence

1 p.m. Wednesday 3rd May 2017

MRI, School of Life Sciences

While the topology of the biochemical network constituting cellular metabolism has long been mapped, we still lack a understanding how metabolic fluxes emerge and how complex metabolic adaption processes are accomplished.

In this seminar, I will present evidence that cells have biochemical mechanisms in place with which they can sense intracellular metabolic fluxes, and that this information is used to control fluxes through other pathways. Furthermore, I will show how such flux-sensing mechanisms are used to adjust metabolism upon environmental changes and that such mechanisms can even lead to bistability in metabolic behavior, and the highly relevant persister phenotype.