Abstract
Since the organism contains many redundant reactions, the minimal feasible metabolic network that contains the basic growth function is not the collection of reactions that associate the essential genes. To identify minimal metabolic reaction set is a challenging work in theoretical approach. A new method is presented here to identify the smallest required reaction set of growth-sustaining metabolic networks. The content and number of the minimal reactions for growth are variable in different random processes. Though the different carbon sources also vary the content of the reactions in the minimal metabolic networks, most essential reactions locate in the same metabolic subsystems, such as cofactor and prosthetic group biosynthesis, cell envelope biosynthesis, and membrane lipid metabolism.
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Acknowledgments
Da Jiang, Hui Liu and Shuigeng Zhou are supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant no. 60496327 and Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project (Project number B114).
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Jiang, D., Zhou, S., Liu, H. et al. Inferring Minimal Feasible Metabolic Networks of Escherichia coli . Appl Biochem Biotechnol 160, 222–231 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-009-8572-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-009-8572-5