Metabolic Engineering in the Post Genomic Era

Engineering living cells continues to pose immense challenges to the researcher. In fact many bioengineers have only just started to appreciate the full extent of the hierarchical control used by living systems: upon attempts to increase the activity of a "rate-limiting" step, the multiple feedbacks at the metabolic, signaling and genetic levels result in the rate limiting step shifting to elsewhere in that pathway or even to elsewhere in the whole organism. The advent of full-force genomics should enable preventing this response, however, it has been difficult for researchers to know where to turn for guidance. This book aims to help the reader understand and deal with the plasticity of living cell factories and to turn the plasticity into the desired rather than the adverse direction. The book brings together all the recent, most important breakthroughs in this exciting field: Internationally renowned key scientists have reviewed each topic in detail. In the Introduction, the editors give an overview of new approaches and spell out what the engineer and the industry may now really begin to aim for; they even adapt the definition of metabolic engineering to befit the post-genomics

Table of Contents:
Introduction. 1. Metabolic Engineering, What it Was and What it is. Analytical Tools. 2. Proteomics in Metabolic Engineering. 3. Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging - Powerful Tools for Functional Genomics. 4. Metabolic Flux Analysis in the Post Genomics Era. 5. Regulatory Strength Analysis for Inferring Gene Networks. Engineering Tools. 6. The MetaCyc Metabolic Pathway Database. 7. Experimental Modulation of Gene Expression. Modeling Methodology. 8. Metabolic Pathway Analysis in Biotechnology. 9. In Silico Cells: Studying Genotype-Phenotype Relationships Using Constraints-Based Models. 10. A Multi-scale Approach for the Predictive Modeling of Metabolic Regulation. 11. Validation of Metabolic Models: Concepts, Tools, and Problems. Examples of Applications. 12. Applications of Whole Cell and Large Pathway Mathematical Models in the Pharmaceutical Industry. 13. Metabolic Engineering of Branched Systems: Redirecting the Main Pathway Flux. 14. Redirecting Metabolism by Co-ordinate Manipulation of Multiple Genes. 15. Metabolic Engineering and Flux Analysis of Glycine Betaine Synthesis in Plants: Progress and Prospects. Perspectives. 16. Metabolic Engineering in the Post Genomic Era: What it Should Become.