Metabolic Engineering: Tools and Concepts

This lecture covers the principles and applications of metabolic engineering, focusing on the design, construction, testing, and analysis of biological circuits. Topics include the use of high-level software tools, advanced computational methods, and automated construction of DNA parts. It also discusses the objectives of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, such as improving cellular properties, broadening substrate spectrum, and designing synthetic microbiomes. The lecture delves into metabolic pathway analysis, flux quantification, and metabolic control analysis, emphasizing the importance of understanding metabolic fluxes for cell physiology. Additionally, it explores the reconstruction of genome-scale metabolic models and the use of enzyme commission numbers for enzymatic functions.