Entangled stoichiometric objectives shape microbial catabolism.

In diverse heterotrophic microbial species, the ATP cost for 1 gram biomass spans 72.8–148.0 mmol, with precursor sets of 4–14 and acetyl-CoA as the only universal precursor.

• Why it matters: Energetic and biosynthetic demands in catabolism and anabolism are hard to disentangle because energy carriers also supply precursor synthesis, obscuring how microbes optimize growth.
• What they did: The authors developed an unbiased quantification method for stoichiometric links between catabolism and anabolism in genome-scale metabolic models, comparing catabolic strategies at maximal biomass yield per unit energy source.
• The result: Catabolic diversity is linked to ATP produced or consumed during precursor synthesis, implying maximal energetic efficiency requires jointly maximizing charged energy carrier yield and minimizing their demand during macromolecule formation.

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