Metabolic pathway compartmentalization: an underappreciated opportunity?

For eukaryotic cells to function properly, they divide their intracellular space in subcellular compartments, each harboring specific metabolic activities. In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that compartmentalization of metabolic pathways is a prerequisite for certain cellular functions. This has for instance been documented for cellular migration, which relies on subcellular localization of glycolysis or mitochondrial respiration in a cell type-dependent manner. Although exciting, this field is still in its infancy, partly due to the limited availability of methods to study the directionality of metabolic pathways and to visualize metabolic processes in distinct cellular compartments. Nonetheless, advances in this field may offer opportunities for innovative strategies to target deregulated compartmentalized metabolism in disease.