The metabolome of an E. coli CRISPRi library identifies benefits of minimal metabolite levels and targets for engineering (opens in new tab)

Rapp et al. combine genome-scale CRISPRi and metabolomics in E. coli. CRISPRi of enzymes enforces metabolite accumulation, which leads to regulatory crosstalk and side reactions. This suggests that many bacterial metabolites are maintained at low levels. Knowledge about accumulating metabolites is also a resource for metabolic engineering.