Physiology, genetics, and biochemistry of carbon metabolism in the alphaproteobacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti.

A large proportion of genes within a genome encode proteins that play a role in metabolism. The Alphaproteobacteria are a ubiquitous group of bacteria that play a major role in a number of environments. For well over 50 years, carbon metabolism in Rhizobium has been studied at biochemical and genetic levels. Here, we review the pre- and post-genomics literature of the metabolism of the alphaproteobacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti. This review provides an overview of carbon metabolism that is useful to readers interested in this organism and to those working on other organisms that do not follow other model system paradigms.