Microbial cellular biology and current problems of metabolic engineering

Current problems of metabolic engineering and its further successful development is strongly dependent on the profound knowledge of regulatory sphere of host cells and its influence on the expression of foreign genetic information. This is especially important for intermediary and central metabolism of a host cell, which is a key part of the cell metabolism, supplying the target biosynthetic and catabolic processes by metabolites and by the energy. However, intermediary and central metabolism is usually characterized by the most intricate and elaborate regulatory systems, including pleiotropic ‘global’ sensor and control mechanisms. This regulatory complexity makes this part of a cell metabolic network especially rigid for foreign intervention. This interaction of a host regulatory sphere and recombinant biosynthetic processes is the core problem of the modern metabolic engineering, interfering and restricting its further development.