Organisms, ranging from bacteria to humans, run on an interconnected series of metabolic pathways—with glycolysis being the essential process that generates energy from sugars (glucose) in food. Pyruvate is the final product of glycolysis: It is an important molecule that acts as a node between different pathways. To better understand how these pathways work, a team of scientists, led by Dr. Tomohiro Shimada from Meiji University and including Dr. Akira Ishihama from Hosei University and Dr. Sousuke Imamura from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), decided to investigate a protein called “PdhR,” the master regulator of pyruvate catabolism (or breakdown) in Escherichia coli (a common model organism). They knew from previous research that PdhR regulates the expression of at least nine proteins involved in carbon metabolism pathways (breakdown of sugars into energy sources). But, given the many roles of pyruvate from scavenging free radicals to generating amino acids, it was logical to think PdhR had multiple targets.
Click here for original story, New study finds novel functions of the pyruvate-sensing protein PdhR in E. coli
Source: Phys.org