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Use of genome‐scale metabolic models for understanding microbial physiology
Author(s) -
Liu Liming,
Agren Rasmus,
Bordel Sergio,
Nielsen Jens
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2010.04.052
Subject(s) - genome , computational biology , scale (ratio) , biology , biochemical engineering , computer science , gene , genetics , engineering , physics , quantum mechanics
The exploitation of microorganisms in industrial, medical, food and environmental biotechnology requires a comprehensive understanding of their physiology. The availability of genome sequences and accumulation of high‐throughput data allows gaining understanding of microbial physiology at the systems level, and genome‐scale metabolic models represent a valuable framework for integrative analysis of metabolism of microorganisms. Genome‐scale metabolic models are reconstructed based on a combination of genome sequence information and detailed biochemical information, and these reconstructed models can be used for analyzing and simulating the operation of metabolism in response to different stimuli. Here we discuss the requirement for having detailed physiological insight in order to exploit microorganisms for production of fuels, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. We further describe the reconstruction process of genome‐scale metabolic models and different algorithms that can be used to apply these models to gain improved insight into microbial physiology.