SPATIOTEMPORAL REGULATION OF GLYCOLYSIS AND OXIDATIVE-PHOSPHORYLATIONIN-VIVO IN TUMOR AND YEAST-CELLS

Recent advances in the in vivo control and regulation of glycolysis an d oxidative phosphorylation in yeast and tumor cells is revised. New i nsigths are presented from old and new experimental data interpreted i n the light of powerful new technologies (e.g NMR, confocal microscopy ) and quantitative techniques combined with mathematical modeling. Tho se new aspects are mainly concerned with the dynamical organization of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation which emerges from the multi ple interactions between compartments and processes inside the cells. Those compartments may be of structural origin, e.g. plasma membrane d efining the cell boundary, mitochondrial-cytoplasmic, or functional on es such as the alternative association-dissociation of enzymes to subc ellular structures (e.g. mitochondria, cytoskeleton) with different ki netic properties in each state. A novel regulatory mechanism concernin g polymerization-depolymerization of microtubular protein may add a ne w dimension to the in vivo physiological properties of cells. One main suggestion coming from the modulatory power of the polymeric status a nd concentration of cytoskeleton components is that it could function as an intracellular mechanism of synchronization between microscopic ( local) to macroscopic (global) processes. How the cell ''mixes'' or sw itches on or off those regulatory steps or effectors under different p hysiological and environmental conditions and for different genetic ba ckgrounds, is a main avenue of systematic research for the future.