Metabolic Activity Profiling by 13C Tracer Experiments and Mass Spectrometry in Corynebacterium glutamicum

This chapter introduces ¹³ C tracer techniques combined with labeling measurement by mass spectrometry (MS) for the quantification of metabolic pathway fluxes. As an example, the relative contribution of (1) de novo synthesis from glucose and (2) synthesis from building blocks contained in complex substrates to the formation of proteinogenic amino acids in the industrial amino acid producer Corynebacterium glutamicum is investigated.