Metabolic Engineering

Dear Colleagues,

Metabolic engineering is an exciting field aiming at the manipulation of metabolic networks for the production of low and high molecular weight compounds using all kinds of biological systems, for curing metabolism-related diseases and for improving food production and quality. Types of produced compounds span from low molecular weight, low value large scale biochemicals to highest value therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and other proteins.

Metabolic engineering has greatly benefited from computational, experimental and technical developments, especially in the areas of genomics, genetic engineering, synthetic and systems biology. Major focuses are on the analysis, modelling and design of metabolic network activities and their regulation. Increasingly available whole genome metabolic networks support a directed design and analysis, particularly of metabolic fluxes.

The methods developed in the metabolic engineering area are increasingly used in medical, pharmaceutical and toxicological research and testing. The methods are also used for the improvement of plant species to increase crop yields and product quality. The developed methods and tools benefit greatly from the increasing power of analytical tools particularly involving modern mass spectrometry but also NMR.

Metabolic engineering plays a pivotal role in the efficient use of renewable materials for a range of applications in various areas of great societal value, e.g., production of food, biofuels, specialty chemicals, antibiotics, and other drugs.

Therefore, this Special Issue of Metabolites will focus on metabolic engineering with a special emphasis on aspect of analysis of metabolites in this context, on the design of metabolic networks, on design and engineering of diverse production systems for endogenous or novel metabolites and on the application of metabolic engineering tools for studying metabolic effects of diseases and potential medical interventions in metabolic network activities. This Special Issue will highlight computational, experimental or technical approaches for metabolic engineering.

Prof. Dr. Elmar Heinzle
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Metabolomics for metabolic engineering
• metabolic engineering
• systems biology
• secondary metabolites
• therapeutic protein production
• metabolic regulation
• biomanufacturing
• nutrition