Skip to main content
Fig. 3. | BMC Biology

Fig. 3.

From: Thawing out frozen metabolic accidents

Fig. 3.

Overview of the three general strategies for the resolution of FMAs. Left panel: The module responsible for the FMA is replaced by a natural variant of the module. This might be effective if the alternative module has evolved beneficial characteristics due to high selective pressure. Possible trade-offs and interactions with proteins extraneous to the transferred module might need to be considered, but could be mitigated by laboratory evolution (see Fig. 4 for more details). Middle panel: The module is replaced by non-natural proteins that have the same interaction potentials but different sequences. This will very likely require a step-wise strategy, with successive replacement of individual proteins via a complementation-based approach, combined with streamlining of protein functions by laboratory evolution (see Fig. 5 for more details). Right panel: Alternative evolution of a primordial version of the FMA or its entire de novo design might be the only solution if the general design of the FMA is fundamentally flawed and cannot be corrected by the first two approaches (see Fig. 6 for more details)

Back to article page