Page 43 - Advances in bioenergy (2016)

Figure 1.1 Strategies of metabolic engineering revolve around the understanding, design, and
engineering of metabolic networks and pathways to produce desired molecular products from
biological platforms. These strategies employ techniques and technologies from a range of
disciplines, from omics technology to synthetic biology.

Understanding the Metabolic Network

The first step in metabolic engineering is to understand the complex network of enzymatic
reactions that compose a cell's metabolism. In addition to the enzymology of participating
enzymes, this requires information on the structure and behavior of the pathways that connect
these enzymes. Knowledge of the pathway chemistry and stoichiometry allows us to calculate
theoretical yields, which are often used as benchmarks for pathway engineering efficacy.
Comprehensive systems-level data about these complex networks is acquired through omics
technologies and bioinformatics. Omics technologies involve using genomic, transcriptomic,
proteomic, or metabolomic data to quantify the system behavior of the cell along various
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functional axes (e.g., growth, tolerance, productivity). Bioinformatics is the method of
extracting biological meaning by identifying significant patterns, motifs, and connections within