Figure 1. Schematic representation of the bacterial acetate metabolism pathways, at which acetyl-CoA (red) is a central metabolite.

Acetate can be imported into the cell by acetate permease (ActP), an acetate/succinate symporter (SatP), and/or passive diffusion. Acetate formation (blue) can occur via the reversible acetate kinase (AckA) and phosphotransacetylase (Pta) reaction, a pyruvate:menaquinone oxidoreductase (PoxB), or the reversible succinyl-CoA : Ac-CoA transferase and succinyl-CoA synthetase (SCACT/SCS). Acetate assimilation into Acetyl-CoA (green) can occur via acetyl-CoA synthetase (ACS) and/or SCACT/SCS. Assimilation of Acetyl-CoA into biomass (yellow) can use multiple pathways, including assimilation into fatty acids (ACC, acetyal-CoA carboxylase) of TCA cycle intermediates (AceA, isocitrate lyase; AceB, malate synthase). Abbreviations: AMP, adenosine monophosphate; ADP, adenosine diphosphate; ATP, adenosine triphosphate; CoASH/CoA, coenzyme A; P_i, phosphate; PP_i, diphosphate; FAD, flavin adenine dinucleotide (quinone); FADH, flavin adenine dinucleotide (semiquinone); CO₂, carbon dioxide; H⁺, proton. This figure was created using BioRender.