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Underground metabolism
Author(s) -
D'Ari Richard,
Casadesús Josep
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-1878(199802)20:2<181::aid-bies10>3.0.co;2-0
Subject(s) - organism , biology , energy metabolism , phenotype , computational biology , metabolic pathway , adaptive evolution , evolutionary biology , genetics , gene , endocrinology
All enzymes are able to use alternative substrates. When these are naturally occurring metabolites, an ‘underground reaction’ takes place. Examples are presented in which underground metabolism of this sort produces an observable phenotype. Although biological processes can be remakably accurate, evolution has selected error rates far from perfect. It is suggested here that a certain level of metabolic inaccuracy, in addition to saving energy, may also confer an evolutionary advantage, for example by providing metabolic plasticity. Since underground reactions are unpredictable from DNA sequence data, caution is in order when interpreting correlations between genetic disorders and pathological syndromes. BioEssays 20:181–186, 1998. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.