Interference of the oscillating glycolysis with the oscillating tryptophan synthesis in the E. coli cells

Abstract Autonomous oscillations of glycolytic intermediates’ concentrations reflect the dynamics of the control and regulation of this major catabolic pathway in living cells. In spite of its major role in the cell central carbon metabolism ( CCM ), glycolysis interference with other metabolic pathways has seldom been investigated. However, the glycolysis model module is the ‘core’ part of any systematic and structured model-based analysis of the cell metabolism. On the other hand, tryptophan ( TRP ) synthesis is another oscillatory metabolic process of high practical interest in the biosynthesis industry, and in medicine. Because the TRP synthesis is strongly connected to the glycolysis through the PEP (phosphoenolpyruvate) node, based on two reduced kinetic models for glycolysis and TRP synthesis, this paper performs, for the first time, an in silico analysis of the way by which the two oscillatory processes interfere in the E. coli cells. The analysis allows guidance of tryptophan synthesis optimization.