Bas, Frank and Bob comment in Nature Metabolism on sensing of metabolic rates

How can you measure something that cannot be measured directly? Think of a rate: this must always be inferred from some other measurements. In the 6^th of Jan issue of Nature Metabolism the Springer lab describes a new mechanism by which cells can measure metabolic rates – in this case rates of the conversion of the sugar galactose in Baker’s yeast. They found that the key enzyme of the galactose pathway, galactose kinase, not only sets the metabolic rate, but also directly regulates the enzyme levels of the pathway. Bas Teusink, Bob Planqué and Frank Bruggeman wrote a News & Views piece about the relevance of the finding. The VU-AIMMS researchers propose that this mechanism provides a missing link in our understanding how cells can optimally distribute cellular resources to maximize fitness. Read about it here:

https://rdcu.be/d5q7Y