Functional similarities of reaction sets in metabolic pathways

Analyzing metabolic pathways by means of their steady states has proven to be accurate and efficient for practical purposes. The models such as elementary flux modes (EFMs) and extreme pathways (EPs) define the boundaries of the metabolic flux cone that is the set of all steady states of a pathway. However, the contributions of the subsets of pathway components in this flux cone so far has not been characterized mathematically. Also, the functional similarities of different component sets (e.g., sets of reactions) has not been expressed as a function of the steady states of metabolic pathways. Here, we aim to fill this gap by proposing a model that quantifies the impact of a set of components on the steady states of a pathway by using EFMs. At a high level, we model the impact of a given component set as the change in the flux cone when all the elements of that set are inhibited. Furthermore, given two sets of components from different pathways, we measure their functional similarity ...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: BCB
• Authors: Ferhat Ay, Tamer Kahveci
• Keywords: BCB 2010, Bioinformatics, Flux Cone, Metabolic Pathways, Steady States