The robustness analysis of propionate metabolism in Bacillus subtilis
during 3-indolacetic acid production
Abstract
The industrial production of plants promoter like auxins is gaining
interest, in consequence it is important to un- derstand the metabolism
of the microorganisms involved and the optimal conditions for their
industrial production. In this study the metabolic model of
Bacillus subtilis was used to estimate intracellular fluxes and
the robustness of the principal branching points of aerobic propionate
metabolism for the 3-indoleacetic acid (IAA) production. The robustness
analyzes of the metabolic network showed the enzymes that participate in
the synthesis of erythrose 4-phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate as
possible limiting metabolites in the synthesis of IAA and might be a
target for metabolic engineering strategies. The phenotype phase plane
analysis allowed the identification of the opti- mal rate growth
conditions to produce the auxin (less than 0.1 h
−1).