Dataset Information

Automatic construction of metabolic models with enzyme constraints.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:In order to improve the accuracy of constraint-based metabolic models, several approaches have been developed which intend to integrate additional biological information. Two of these methods, MOMENT and GECKO, incorporate enzymatic (kcat) parameters and enzyme mass constraints to further constrain the space of feasible metabolic flux distributions. While both methods have been proven to deliver useful extensions of metabolic models, they may considerably increase size and complexity of the models and there is currently no tool available to fully automate generation and calibration of such enzyme-constrained models from given stoichiometric models. RESULTS:In this work we present three major developments. We first conceived short MOMENT (sMOMENT), a simplified version of the MOMENT approach, which yields the same predictions as MOMENT but requires significantly fewer variables and enables direct inclusion of the relevant enzyme constraints in the standard representation of a constraint-based model. When measurements of enzyme concentrations are available, these can be included as well leading in the extreme case, where all enzyme concentrations are known, to a model representation that is analogous to the GECKO approach. Second, we developed the AutoPACMEN toolbox which allows an almost fully automated creation of sMOMENT-enhanced stoichiometric metabolic models. In particular, this includes the automatic read-out and processing of relevant enzymatic data from different databases and the reconfiguration of the stoichiometric model with embedded enzymatic constraints. Additionally, tools have been developed to adjust (kcat and enzyme pool) parameters of sMOMENT models based on given flux data. We finally applied the new sMOMENT approach and the AutoPACMEN toolbox to generate an enzyme-constrained version of the E. coli genome-scale model iJO1366 and analyze its key properties and differences with the standard model. In particular, we show that the enzyme constraints improve flux predictions (e.g., explaining overflow metabolism and other metabolic switches) and demonstrate, for the first time, that these constraints can markedly change the spectrum of metabolic engineering strategies for different target products. CONCLUSIONS:The methodological and tool developments presented herein pave the way for a simplified and routine construction and analysis of enzyme-constrained metabolic models.

SUBMITTER: Bekiaris PS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6961255 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Automatic construction of metabolic models with enzyme constraints.

Bekiaris Pavlos Stephanos PS Klamt Steffen S

BMC bioinformatics 20200114 1

<h4>Background</h4>In order to improve the accuracy of constraint-based metabolic models, several approaches have been developed which intend to integrate additional biological information. Two of these methods, MOMENT and GECKO, incorporate enzymatic (kcat) parameters and enzyme mass constraints to further constrain the space of feasible metabolic flux distributions. While both methods have been proven to deliver useful extensions of metabolic models, they may considerably increase size and com ...[more]

PMID: 31937255

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Project description:BackgroundThe availability of genome sequences for many organisms enabled the reconstruction of several genome-scale metabolic network models. Currently, significant efforts are put into the automated reconstruction of such models. For this, several computational tools have been developed that particularly assist in identifying and compiling the organism-specific lists of metabolic reactions. In contrast, the last step of the model reconstruction process, which is the definition of the thermodynamic constraints in terms of reaction directionalities, still needs to be done manually. No computational method exists that allows for an automated and systematic assignment of reaction directions in genome-scale models.ResultsWe present an algorithm that - based on thermodynamics, network topology and heuristic rules - automatically assigns reaction directions in metabolic models such that the reaction network is thermodynamically feasible with respect to the production of energy equivalents. It first exploits all available experimentally derived Gibbs energies of formation to identify irreversible reactions. As these thermodynamic data are not available for all metabolites, in a next step, further reaction directions are assigned on the basis of network topology considerations and thermodynamics-based heuristic rules. Briefly, the algorithm identifies reaction subsets from the metabolic network that are able to convert low-energy co-substrates into their high-energy counterparts and thus net produce energy. Our algorithm aims at disabling such thermodynamically infeasible cyclic operation of reaction subnetworks by assigning reaction directions based on a set of thermodynamics-derived heuristic rules. We demonstrate our algorithm on a genome-scale metabolic model of E. coli. The introduced systematic direction assignment yielded 130 irreversible reactions (out of 920 total reactions), which corresponds to about 70% of all irreversible reactions that are required to disable thermodynamically infeasible energy production.ConclusionAlthough not being fully comprehensive, our algorithm for systematic reaction direction assignment could define a significant number of irreversible reactions automatically with low computational effort. We envision that the presented algorithm is a valuable part of a computational framework that assists the automated reconstruction of genome-scale metabolic models.

Project description:BackgroundGenome-scale metabolic model (GSMM) is a powerful tool for the study of cellular metabolic characteristics. With the development of multi-omics measurement techniques in recent years, new methods that integrating multi-omics data into the GSMM show promising effects on the predicted results. It does not only improve the accuracy of phenotype prediction but also enhances the reliability of the model for simulating complex biochemical phenomena, which can promote theoretical breakthroughs for specific gene target identification or better understanding the cell metabolism on the system level.ResultsBased on the basic GSMM model iHL1210 of Aspergillus niger, we integrated large-scale enzyme kinetics and proteomics data to establish a GSMM based on enzyme constraints, termed a GEM with Enzymatic Constraints using Kinetic and Omics data (GECKO). The results show that enzyme constraints effectively improve the model's phenotype prediction ability, and extended the model's potential to guide target gene identification through predicting metabolic phenotype changes of A. niger by simulating gene knockout. In addition, enzyme constraints significantly reduced the solution space of the model, i.e., flux variability over 40.10% metabolic reactions were significantly reduced. The new model showed also versatility in other aspects, like estimating large-scale [Formula: see text] values, predicting the differential expression of enzymes under different growth conditions.ConclusionsThis study shows that incorporating enzymes' abundance information into GSMM is very effective for improving model performance with A. niger. Enzyme-constrained model can be used as a powerful tool for predicting the metabolic phenotype of A. niger by incorporating proteome data. In the foreseeable future, with the fast development of measurement techniques, and more precise and rich proteomics quantitative data being obtained for A. niger, the enzyme-constrained GSMM model will show greater application space on the system level.

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Automatic construction of metabolic models with enzyme constraints.

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Automatic construction of metabolic models with enzyme constraints.

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