Transmetabolism: the non‐conformist approach to biotechnology

[...]structural and dynamic developmental constraints limit the space of solutions for animal bodies (Alberch, 1989), whereas physicochemical restrictions and historical contingencies shape the possible at the molecular level (Jacob, 1981). [...]recurrent patterns in actual cell metabolisms are the result of a long evolutionary exploration within the chemically constrained space of the possible solutions under specific yet changing conditions (de Lorenzo et al., 2014). The fuzzy discreteness of metabolic circuits has allowed the classical strategy of metabolic engineering: the pursuit of the enhancement of cell performances upgrading metabolite fluxes of native pathways, even by means of transplantation of enzymes or pathways wired within the metabolic core of a heterologous host. [...]metabolic engineering navigates inside the possible, playing within the limits of biological and physicochemical trade-offs: usually, it is not possible to improve one trait without worsening other cellular performances (Sheftel et al., 2013). What is now certainly innovative are the approaches, the tools and the engineering ideology under current synthetic biology projects. [...]Fessner ( 2015) has introduced the term ‘systems biocatalysis’ with the meaning of ‘cell-free artificial metabolism’.