Pathways provide phenotypes useful in treating defects of galactose assimilation.

2004 OCT 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Recent research on alternative pathways of galactose assimilation suggests that inverse metabolic engineering could provide an alternative to galactosemic patients.

Investigators in the United States report, "The galactose assimilation pathway has been extensively studied as an example of a genetic regulatory switch. Besides the importance of this pathway as a tool in basic biological research, unraveling its structure and regulation is also of major medical importance. Impairment of galactose assimilation is the cause of the genetic metabolic disease known as 'galactosemia', while the in vivo activity of the pathway affects …