Table 3.
The Most Conserved Metabolic Pathways in E. coli Whose Enzymes Are Universally Present in the Three Domains of Life, Archaea (A), Bacteria (B) and Eucarya (E)
| Pathway name | Pathway superclass | A-B-E | A-B-E-Vr | Enzymes | Coverage |
| Tryptophan biosynthesis | Individual amino acids | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1.00 |
| Leucine biosynthesis | Individual amino acids | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1.00 |
| Arginine biosynthesis II | Individual amino acids | 9 | 2 | 11 | 1.00 |
| Valine biosynthesis | Individual amino acids | 8 | 0 | 9 | 0.89 |
| Nonoxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway | Energy-metabolism | 7 | 0 | 8 | 0.88 |
| Histidine biosynthesis | Individual amino acids | 7 | 0 | 8 | 0.88 |
| Purine biosynthesis | Purines and pyrimidines | 12 | 0 | 14 | 0.86 |
| Enterobactin synthesis | Cofactor-biosynthesis | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0.83 |
| Riboflavin, FMN and FAD biosynthesis | Cofactor-biosynthesis | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0.83 |
| Threonine biosynthesis | Individual amino acids | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0.83 |
| FormylTHF biosynthesis | Intermediary-metabolism | 7 | 2 | 11 | 0.82 |
| Methylglyoxal metabolism | Central-metabolism | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0.80 |
| Ribose catabolism | Carbon-degradation | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0.80 |
| Thiamin biosynthesis | Cofactor-biosynthesis | 8 | 0 | 10 | 0.80 |
| Folic acid biosynthesis | Cofactor-biosynthesis | 7 | 1 | 10 | 0.80 |
| Gluconeogenesis | Central-metabolism | 10 | 0 | 13 | 0.77 |
| Isoleucine biosynthesis | Individual amino acids | 10 | 0 | 13 | 0.77 |
| Glycolysis | Energy-metabolism | 10 | 0 | 13 | 0.77 |
| Aerobic respiration, electron donors reaction list | Energy-metabolism | 22 | 0 | 29 | 0.76 |
| Glyoxylate cycle | Energy-metabolism | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0.71 |
| Glycogen catabolism | Carbon-degradation | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0.71 |
| Biosynthesis of proto- and siroheme | Cofactor-biosynthesis | 7 | 0 | 10 | 0.70 |
| TCA cycle, aerobic respiration | Energy-metabolism | 14 | 0 | 20 | 0.70 |
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Column names: Pathway name and superclass according to EcoCyc (Karp et al. 2000); ABE: number of enzymes in the three phylogenetic domains; ABEVr: number of enzymes in the three phylogenetic domains plus Viruses (Vr); Enzymes: total number of enzymes in the corresponding pathway; Coverage: ratio of the sum of universal enzymes over total, per pathway. Table is sorted by coverage.
