Current Understanding of the Formation and Adaptation of Metabolic Systems Based on Network Theory

Metabolites

关键词: metabolic network;    large-scale network analysis;    evolution;    environmental adaptation;   

DOI  :  10.3390/metabo2030429

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Formation and adaptation of metabolic networks has been a long-standing question in biology. With recent developments in biotechnology and bioinformatics, the understanding of metabolism is progressively becoming clearer from a network perspective. This review introduces the comprehensive metabolic world that has been revealed by a wide range of data analyses and theoretical studies; in particular, it illustrates the role of evolutionary events, such as gene duplication and horizontal gene transfer, and environmental factors, such as nutrient availability and growth conditions, in evolution of the metabolic network. Furthermore, the mathematical models for the formation and adaptation of metabolic networks have also been described, according to the current understanding from a perspective of metabolic networks. These recent findings are helpful in not only understanding the formation of metabolic networks and their adaptation, but also metabolic engineering.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.