Carbon Metabolism

A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2016) | Viewed by 26429

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department Chemie, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstraße 4, 85747 Garching, Germany
Interests: natural products: isolation, structures, biosynthesis, biological action; bacteria: metabolism, target identification, biotechnology, exploitation; plants: metabolism, terpenoids, biotechnology, exploitation; methods: metabolic profiling, pathway profiling, stable isotopes, target identification
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Guest Editor
Lehrstuhl für Biochemie, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany
Interests: metabolic pathways; biosynthesis; metabolomics; metabolic flux analysis; pathogens
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Life “as we know it” is based on carbon chemistry, and the (somewhat surprising) designation of carbon chemistry, in its entirety, as “organic chemistry” reflects that fact. Hence, carbon metabolism is fundamental to our understanding of microbial, plant, and animal physiology and has important ramifications for the applied life sciences, including, but not limited to biotechnology and human metabolic and infectious diseases. Recent advances in molecular and spectroscopic methods have enabled deeper insights into the metabolic networks of organisms. This Special Issue of Metabolites, "Carbon Metabolism", will be focused on cutting-edge technologies for metabolic analysis, both from a fundamental, as well as an applied point of view. The topics that shall be covered by this Special Issue include recent discoveries in metabolic pathways, 13C-Labeling methods on global and single cell levels, developments and applications in metabolic flux analyses, new insights into the metabolic crosstalk of microbes (including of pathogens with their environments and host organisms), biotechnological applications (via the reprogramming of carbon pathways and fluxes in microorganisms and plants), and highlights in the study of human disease. Manuscripts dealing with other challenging issues in the field of carbon metabolism are also highly welcome.

Dr. Wolfgang Eisenreich
Dr. Adelbert Bacher
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • biosynthesis
  • isotope labeling
  • metabolic pathway
  • metabolic flux
  • plant metabolism
  • bacterial metabolism
  • pathogens
  • metabolic adaptation

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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4098 KiB  
Article
Staphylococcus aureus Infection Reduces Nutrition Uptake and Nucleotide Biosynthesis in a Human Airway Epithelial Cell Line
by Philipp Gierok, Manuela Harms, Karen Methling, Falko Hochgräfe and Michael Lalk
Metabolites 2016, 6(4), 41; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo6040041 - 9 Nov 2016
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 7338
Abstract
The Gram positive opportunistic human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus induces a variety of diseases including pneumonia. S. aureus is the second most isolated pathogen in cystic fibrosis patients and accounts for a large proportion of nosocomial pneumonia. Inside the lung, the human airway epithelium [...] Read more.
The Gram positive opportunistic human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus induces a variety of diseases including pneumonia. S. aureus is the second most isolated pathogen in cystic fibrosis patients and accounts for a large proportion of nosocomial pneumonia. Inside the lung, the human airway epithelium is the first line in defence with regard to microbial recognition and clearance as well as regulation of the immune response. The metabolic host response is, however, yet unknown. To address the question of whether the infection alters the metabolome and metabolic activity of airway epithelial cells, we used a metabolomics approach. The nutrition uptake by the human airway epithelial cell line A549 was monitored over time by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR) and the intracellular metabolic fingerprints were investigated by gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography (GC-MS) and (HPLC-MS). To test the metabolic activity of the host cells, glutamine analogues and labelled precursors were applied after the infection. We found that A549 cells restrict uptake of essential nutrients from the medium after S. aureus infection. Moreover, the infection led to a shutdown of the purine and pyrimidine synthesis in the A549 host cell, whereas other metabolic routes such as the hexosamine biosynthesis pathway remained active. In summary, our data show that the infection with S. aureus negatively affects growth, alters the metabolic composition and specifically impacts the de novo nucleotide biosynthesis in this human airway epithelial cell model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Metabolism)
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2904 KiB  
Article
Sexual Dimorphism in the Response of Mercurialis annua to Stress
by Ezra M. Orlofsky, Giorgi Kozhoridze, Lyudmila Lyubenova, Elena Ostrozhenkova, J. Barbro Winkler, Peter Schröder, Adelbert Bacher, Wolfgang Eisenreich, Micha Guy and Avi Golan-Goldhirsh
Metabolites 2016, 6(2), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo6020013 - 26 Apr 2016
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5579
Abstract
The research presented stemmed from the observations that female plants of the annual dioecious Mercurialis annua outlive male plants. This led to the hypothesis that female plants of M. annua would be more tolerant to stress than male plants. This hypothesis was addressed [...] Read more.
The research presented stemmed from the observations that female plants of the annual dioecious Mercurialis annua outlive male plants. This led to the hypothesis that female plants of M. annua would be more tolerant to stress than male plants. This hypothesis was addressed in a comprehensive way, by comparing morphological, biochemical and metabolomics changes in female and male plants during their development and under salinity. There were practically no differences between the genders in vegetative development and physiological parameters. However, under salinity conditions, female plants produced significantly more new reproductive nodes. Gender-linked differences in peroxidase (POD) and glutathione transferases (GSTs) were involved in anti-oxidation, detoxification and developmental processes in M. annua. 1H NMR metabolite profiling of female and male M. annua plants showed that under salinity the activity of the TCA cycle increased. There was also an increase in betaine in both genders, which may be explainable by its osmo-compatible function under salinity. The concentration of ten metabolites changed in both genders, while ‘Female-only-response’ to salinity was detected for five metabolites. In conclusion, dimorphic responses of M. annua plant genders to stress may be attributed to female plants’ capacity to survive and complete the reproductive life cycle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Metabolism)
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859 KiB  
Article
Temperature Shift Experiments Suggest That Metabolic Impairment and Enhanced Rates of Photorespiration Decrease Organic Acid Levels in Soybean Leaflets Exposed to Supra-Optimal Growth Temperatures
by Richard C. Sicher
Metabolites 2015, 5(3), 443-454; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo5030443 - 5 Aug 2015
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4883
Abstract
Elevated growth temperatures are known to affect foliar organic acid concentrations in various plant species. In the current study, citrate, malate, malonate, fumarate and succinate decreased 40 to 80% in soybean leaflets when plants were grown continuously in controlled environment chambers at 36/28 [...] Read more.
Elevated growth temperatures are known to affect foliar organic acid concentrations in various plant species. In the current study, citrate, malate, malonate, fumarate and succinate decreased 40 to 80% in soybean leaflets when plants were grown continuously in controlled environment chambers at 36/28 compared to 28/20 °C. Temperature effects on the above mentioned organic acids were partially reversed three days after plants were transferred among optimal and supra-optimal growth temperatures. In addition, CO2 enrichment increased foliar malate, malonate and fumarate concentrations in the supra-optimal temperature treatment, thereby mitigating effects of high temperature on respiratory metabolism. Glycerate, which functions in the photorespiratory pathway, decreased in response to CO2 enrichment at both growth temperatures. The above findings suggested that diminished levels of organic acids in soybean leaflets upon exposure to high growth temperatures were attributable to metabolic impairment and to changes of photorespiratory flux. Leaf development rates differed among temperature and CO2 treatments, which affected foliar organic acid levels. Additionally, we report that large decreases of foliar organic acids in response to elevated growth temperatures were observed in legume species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Metabolism)
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Review

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5017 KiB  
Review
Decoding Biosynthetic Pathways in Plants by Pulse-Chase Strategies Using 13CO2 as a Universal Tracer
by Adelbert Bacher, Fan Chen and Wolfgang Eisenreich
Metabolites 2016, 6(3), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo6030021 - 14 Jul 2016
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 7631
Abstract
13CO2 pulse-chase experiments monitored by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry can provide 13C-isotopologue compositions in biosynthetic products. Experiments with a variety of plant species have documented that the isotopologue profiles generated with 13CO2 pulse-chase labeling are directly [...] Read more.
13CO2 pulse-chase experiments monitored by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry can provide 13C-isotopologue compositions in biosynthetic products. Experiments with a variety of plant species have documented that the isotopologue profiles generated with 13CO2 pulse-chase labeling are directly comparable to those that can be generated by the application of [U-13C6]glucose to aseptically growing plants. However, the application of the 13CO2 labeling technology is not subject to the experimental limitations that one has to take into account for experiments with [U-13C6]glucose and can be applied to plants growing under physiological conditions, even in the field. In practical terms, the results of biosynthetic studies with 13CO2 consist of the detection of pairs, triples and occasionally quadruples of 13C atoms that have been jointly contributed to the target metabolite, at an abundance that is well above the stochastic occurrence of such multiples. Notably, the connectivities of jointly transferred 13C multiples can have undergone modification by skeletal rearrangements that can be diagnosed from the isotopologue data. As shown by the examples presented in this review article, the approach turns out to be powerful in decoding the carbon topology of even complex biosynthetic pathways. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Metabolism)
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