Evaluating non-oxidative glycolysis using 13C metabolic flux analysis

In Escherichia coli bioproduction, [1,3-13C]-glucose most precisely predicts non-oxidative glycolysis fluxes, yielding the narrowest 95% confidence intervals across three NOG pathway types.

• Why it matters: Accurate in vivo 13C-MFA of NOG depends on how well glucose tracer labeling patterns resolve multiple native glycolysis routes.
• What they did: The study simulated 18 commercially available glucose tracers by generating artificial central-metabolism fluxes, computing amino-acid labeling patterns, and calculating 95% CIs for NOG pathway fluxes. It then experimentally tested [2,3-13C]- and [1-13C]glucose in Escherichia coli strains with and without phosphoketolase expression.
• The result: [1-13C]glucose could not detect NOG fluxes, while [2,3-13C]glucose estimated fluxes of all three NOG pathways with narrow CIs, supporting tracer choice for precise NOG flux distribution.

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