The metabolic productivity of the cell factory

Journal of Theoretical Biology
M CascanteE Martí

Abstract

It is widely accepted that some performance function has been optimized during the evolution of metabolic pathways. One can study the nature of such a function by analogy with the industrial manufacturing world, in which there have been efforts over recent decades to optimize production chains, and in which it is now accepted that fluxes are not the only important system variables that determine process efficiency, because inventory turnover must also be considered. Inspired by the parallels between living cells and manufacturing factories, we propose that fluxes and transit time may have simultaneously been major targets of natural selection in the optimization of the design, structure and kinetic parameters of metabolic pathways. Accordingly we define the ratio of flux to transit time as a performance index of productivity in metabolic systems: it measures the efficiency with which stocks are administered, and facilitates comparison of a pathway in different steady states or in different tissues or organisms. For a linear chain of two enzymes, at a fixed total equilibrium constant, we have analysed the variation of flux, transit time and productivity index as functions of the equilibrium constants of the two steps. The result...Continue Reading

Citations

Mar 21, 2006·Journal of Molecular Evolution·Alicia Esteban del Valle, J Carlos Aledo
Jun 12, 2014·Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology·Mariona JovéReinald Pamplona
Feb 19, 2011·Mathematical Biosciences·Baldiri SalvadoRui Alves
Apr 9, 2001·Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences. Série III, Sciences de la vie·M Bali, S R Thomas
Jun 29, 2005·Mathematical Biosciences·Anandhi Ervadi-Radhakrishnan, Eberhard O Voit

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