From Control to Regulation: A new prospect for metabolic control analysis

摘要

The era of metabolic control analysis started more than 25 years ago (kacser & Burns, 1973; Heinrich & Rapoport, 1974). It should now come of age. Whether it has, the reader will judge. For comparison, this chapter presents the point of view of a member of the other club, the classical biochemists. After a short reminder of the early steps of metabolic control analysis, the main achievements and shortcomings of this new conceptual approach of metabolism will be briefly discussed. The analysis will lead us to reconsider metabolic pathways in a broader context, to take into account a higher level of organization and to explain large changes in flux. This will be illustrated by examples of pathological conditions. The underlying concept is homeostasis, expressed by "regulation" as opposed to "control", the tools used to achieve homeostasis.