The Amino Acid Pool in Escherichia Coli

Bacteria maintain internally synthesized small molecules at high internal concentrations and in addition have the capacity to concentrate many compounds from the environment. Since the majority of these compounds are intermediates in synthesis, they are collectively termed the pool of metabolic intermediates or, simply, the pool. However, the state of organization and ultimate chemical fate of exogenous compounds concentrated by the cell may be different from those of identical compounds synthesized by the cell.