Hello, I am looking for an explanation for an experimental result. I
have recently looked for E. coli genes that when overexpressed provide
resistance of E. coli to the herbicide glyphosate. Glyphosate targets
the enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase. One clone that allowed E.
coli to grow in the prescence of glyphosate contained the glucokinase
locus. My idea of a possible mechanism is that overexpression of the
glucokinase is diverting pools of free glucose (no idea how much free
glucose is in the cells, although some of the literature indicates pools
are larger than previously suspected) into glycolysis and/or the pentose
phosphate pathway and thereby increasing carbon flux through the
biosynthetic pathway for aromatic amino acids. Is this completely crazy?
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Dave
