Compartmentalization of biosynthetic enzymes in bacterial cells: the histidine metabolic pathway case

Introduction: It is known that the inner concentration of proteins within the cell cytoplasm is so high that limits the diffusion of enzymes and metabolic intermediates, leading to a loss of time and energy. Therefore, the organization of genes in operons would have enabled to have enzymes involved in the same metabolic pathway physically close to each other. A corollary to this hypothesis in the possibility of physical interactions between the enzymes of the same metabolic pathway, resulting in the formation of a supramolecular complex capable in channeling the intermediates from one enzyme to a physical adjacent one, with restricted diffusion in the surrounding milieu. Objectives: The aim…