Experimental evolution of catabolic pathways of bacteria
Ramos, J.L.; Timmis, K.N.
Microbiological Sciences 4(8): 228-237
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0265-1351 PMID: 3153615 Document Number: 302315
Recent progress in the development of experimental approaches to manipulate complex catabolic pathways is summarized, including increasing their substrate specificities through the recruitment of broad specificity enzymes or through the mutational broadening of the substrate specificity of existing key enzymes, changing the specificity of regulatory systems that control expression of catabolic genes, and constructing what appear to be new pathways through the judicious combination of segments of different pathways from several organisms. Possible future lines of research are also discussed in relation to the potential for accelerating the evolution of bacteria able to degrade toxic industrial chemicals to combat environmental pollution.