AbstractThe metabolic control theory (MCT) provides an exact and quantitative framework for the description of microbial growth. It gives a value for the contribution of each specific individual step (or ensemble) in the total control of fluxes in a complex metabolic network (such as a microbial cell) by means of socalled flux control coefficients. Therefore, MCT is an interesting tool for modeling microbial growth and product formation.The present review focuses on the application of the concepts of MCT of a relatively simple model of microbial growth. In this model (which was already used in the mosaic nonequilibrium thermodynamic approach of Westerhoff and Van Dam (1987) Elsevier), the metabolism is lumped together in three essential steps, i.e., catabolism (all energyliberating processes), anabolism (in which ATP is used for biosynthesis) and leak (ATP hydrolysis without coupling to anabolism or catabolism).According to MCT, it is a priori not justified to describe growth by one limiting step (substra...