Vitreoscilla Haemoglobin: A Tool to Reduce Overflow Metabolism

• Published in: Microorganisms (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 43
• Main Authors: Taymaz-Nikerel, Hilal, Lara, Alvaro R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 26.12.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Carbon; Dehydrogenases; E coli; Energy; Enzymes; Fermentation; flux balance analysis; Glucose; Growth rate; Hemoglobin; Hypotheses; Metabolism; Metabolites; Microorganisms; Overflow; overflow metabolism; Oxygen consumption; Oxygen uptake; P/O ratio; Proteins; Respiration; Review; Substrates; Vitreoscilla haemoglobin; flux balance analysis; overflow metabolism; P/O ratio; Vitreoscilla haemoglobin
• ISSN: 2076-2607; 2076-2607
• DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10010043

Overflow metabolism is a phenomenon extended in nature, ranging from microbial to cancer cells. Accumulation of overflow metabolites pose a challenge for large-scale bioprocesses. Yet, the causes of overflow metabolism are not fully clarified. In this work, the underlying mechanisms, reasons and consequences of overflow metabolism in different organisms have been summarized. The reported effect of aerobic expression of haemoglobin (VHb) in different organisms are revised. The use of VHb to reduce overflow metabolism is proposed and studied through flux balance analysis in at a fixed maximum substrate and oxygen uptake rates. Simulations showed that the presence of VHb increases the growth rate, while decreasing acetate production, in line with the experimental measurements. Therefore, aerobic VHb expression is considered a potential tool to reduce overflow metabolism in cells.