Capturing the essence of a metabolic network: A flux balance analysis approach

Ettore Murabito (1) , Evangelos Simeonidis (1) , Kieran Smallbone (1) , Jonathan Swinton (2)

1 University of Manchester [Manchester]
2 HCTLab - Human Computer Technology Laboratory

As genome-scale metabolic reconstructions emerge, tools to manage their size and complexity will be increasingly important. Flux Balance Analysis (FBA) is a constraint-based approach widely used to study the metabolic capabilities of cellular or subcellular systems. FBA problems are highly underdetermined and many different phenotypes can satisfy any set of constraints through which the metabolic system is represented.

Mots clés: Mixed Integer Linear Programming problem; Alternate optimal solutions; Alternate optimal patterns; Minimal optimal subnetwork; Minimal effort principle

Ettore Murabito, Evangelos Simeonidis, Kieran Smallbone, Jonathan Swinton. Capturing the essence of a metabolic network: A flux balance analysis approach. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2009, 260 (3), pp.445. ⟨10.1016/j.jtbi.2009.06.013⟩. ⟨hal-00554628⟩