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Eukaryotic metabolism: Measuring compartment fluxes
Author(s) -
Wahrheit Judith,
Nicolae Averina,
Heinzle Elmar
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.144
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1860-7314
pISSN - 1860-6768
DOI - 10.1002/biot.201100032
Subject(s) - interdependence , metabolic flux analysis , computer science , metabolic network , compartment (ship) , metabolic pathway , computational biology , task (project management) , cellular metabolism , flux (metallurgy) , systems biology , metabolism , biology , chemistry , biochemistry , oceanography , management , organic chemistry , political science , law , economics , geology
Metabolic compartmentation represents a major characteristic of eukaryotic cells. The analysis of compartmented metabolic networks is complicated by separation and parallelization of pathways, intracellular transport, and the need for regulatory systems to mediate communication between interdependent compartments. Metabolic flux analysis (MFA) has the potential to reveal compartmented metabolic events, although it is a challenging task requiring demanding experimental techniques and sophisticated modeling. At present no ready‐made solution can be provided to cope with the complexity of compartmented metabolic networks, but new powerful tools are emerging. This review gives an overview of different strategies to approach this issue, focusing on different MFA methods and highlighting the additional information that should be included to improve the outcome of an experiment and associate estimation procedures.