Redirecting Metabolite Flow
In a branched biosynthetic pathway, there are always several forks, where intermediates can enter alternative pathways At such forks, resources (substrate, enzyme, transport system, ribosomes, etc.) are distributed equally or unequally to two or more processes. When we are interested in one of the several possible products, at a fork the desired route or process can be made a priority, so that resources are mainly channelized to this route and the traffic to other routes is minimized without decreasing cell viability. This can be achieved by several methods including the following: (i) use of cloned genes suppressing feedback inhibition by the end product, (ii) use of mutant ribosomal RNA and (iii) use of positive regulatory sequences.