Constraint based models of metabolic networks: pre and post genome era models

DIANA DULSAN; M. SOLEDAD DIAZ

Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Congreso; ENPROMER 2005, 4th Mercosur Congress on Process Systems Engineering and the 2nd Mercosur Congress on Chemical Engineering; 2005

In this work, we have performed a review on the evolution of mathematical models for metabolic networks, starting from the pre-genome era models and evolving to post-genome ones. In metabolic engineering, the metabolic design problem can be addressed through the formulation of a mathematical or in silico model, which can be used to “design” an improved metabolic network by suggesting changes in the genotype of the microorganism. The metabolism of Escherichia coli has been extensively studied due to the availability of data on its metabolism, regulation and physiology. Different mathematical models have been developed, ranging from kinetic, cybernetic, stochastic, metabolic control analysis, biochemical systems theory and constraint based methods. However, the constraint based modeling approach is the one that allows direct integration of recently available “omics” data; i.e., it is the only methodology by which genome-scale models have been formulated. In this work, we describe initial models of core metabolisms and their successive expansions to include increasingly available data up to the formulation of a genome-scale model.