Oil Palm Bulletin No. 43 (November 2001) p14-22

Metabolic control analysis – theory and experimental application

UMI SALAMAH Ramli
This paper discusses the theory, concept and experimental application of metabolic control analysis. This technique has provided a means by which a quantitative description of control structure by an enzyme, substrate and cofactor over a metabolic pathway can be produced. Application of metabolic control analysis results in numerical values (flux control coefficients) showing how much a particular enzyme or step has over a metabolic pathway flux. The value of flux control coefficient for an enzyme is within the range 0 (no control) and 1 (maximum control). We describe two different approaches that have been used to measure flux control coefficients in metabolic pathways, i.e. (1) top-down control analysis (TDCA) and (2) bottom-up control analysis (BUCA) together with the experimental work that has been carried out recently in the study of control structure over carbon flux through lipid biosynthesis pathway in oil palm callus cultures. Using the TDCA of metabolic control analysis, we calculated the control over the lipid biosynthesis pathway exerted by fatty acid synthesis and the Kennedy pathway during complex lipids assembly. BUCA was also applied to evaluate the importance of fatty acid synthase (FAS) in controlling carbon flux from acetate to total lipids in oil palm callus cultures. These data represent the first use of metabolic control analysis to gain quantitative information about control structure over lipid biosynthesis in oil palm and should form the basis of more detailed work which will be invaluable for the rational development of improved, genetically modified oil crops.

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