A new path for one-carbon conversion

Incorporating one-carbon molecules into metabolic engineering has involved altering central metabolism, which must overcome metabolic regulation. Developing one-carbon metabolic pathways that are orthogonal to central metabolism offers a promising alternative for bioproduct synthesis. Here, Chou, Lee, Zhu et al. describe an orthogonal pathway that has the potential for bioproduct synthesis from one-carbon molecules and can be independent of central metabolism.