Metabolic Control Analysis

Metabolic control analysis is a theoretical, systems biology framework for understanding how changes in the activity of one or more enzymes affect metabolic rates and concentrations. This chapter begins with a brief account of some of its terms and equations relevant to characterizing the responses of metabolic networks to modulation of enzymes, with emphasis on the difficulties involved in greatly increasing the flux to a desired metabolic product. The concepts developed are then used to examine the outcome of different types of intervention used in metabolic engineering, illustrated by experimental and computational examples.