Dynamics in redox metabolism, from stoichiometry towards kinetics

Redox metabolism plays an essential role in the central metabolic network of all living cells, connecting, but at the same time separating, catabolic and anabolic pathways. Redox metabolism is inherently linked to the excretion of overflow metabolites. Overflow metabolism allows for higher substrate uptake rates, potentially outcompeting other microorganisms for the same substrate. Within dynamically changing environments, overflow metabolism can act as storage mechanism, as is shown in many recently described processes. However, for complete understanding of these mechanisms, the intracellular state of the metabolism must be elucidated. In recent years, progress has been made in the field of metabolomics to improve the accuracy and precision of measurements of intracellular and intercompartmental metabolites. This article highlights several of these recent advances, with focus on redox cofactor measurements, both fluorescence and mass spectrometry based.