Thermodynamics Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Thermodynamics, including details on enthalpy, entropy, energy transitions.

A genome-scale metabolic reconstruction for Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 that accounts for 1260 ORFs and thermodynamic information.

Feist AM, Henry CS, Reed JL, Krummenacker M, Joyce AR, Karp PD, Broadbelt LJ, Hatzimanikatis V, Palsson BØ

Department of Bioengineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

An updated genome-scale reconstruction of the metabolic network in Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 is presented. This updated metabolic reconstruction includes: (1) an alignment with the latest genome annotation and the metabolic content of EcoCyc leading to the inclusion of the activities of 1260 ORFs, (2) characterization and quantification of the biomass components and maintenance requirements associated with growth of E. coli and (3) thermodynamic information for the included chemical reactions. The conversion of this metabolic network reconstruction into an in silico model is detailed. A new step in the metabolic reconstruction process, termed thermodynamic consistency analysis, is introduced, in which reactions were checked for consistency with thermodynamic reversibility estimates. Applications demonstrating the capabilities of the genome-scale metabolic model to predict high-throughput experimental growth and gene deletion phenotypic screens are presented. The increased scope and computational capability using this new reconstruction is expected to broaden the spectrum of both basic biology and applied systems biology studies of E. coli metabolism.

Published 27 June 2007 in Mol Syst Biol, 3: 121.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Thermodynamics Research Today. All Rights Reserved.