Understanding optimality principles shaping the evolution of regulatory networks controlling metabolism is crucial for deriving a holistic picture of how metabolism is integrated into key cellular processes such as growth, adaptation and pathogenicity. While in the past the focus of research in pathway regulation was mainly based on stationary states, more recently dynamic optimization has proved to be an ideal tool to decipher regulatory strategies for metabolic pathways in response to environmental cues. In this short review, we summarize recent advances in the elucidation of optimal regulatory strategies and identification of optimal control points in metabolic pathways. We discuss biological implications of the discovered optimality principles on genome organization and provide examples how the derived knowledge can be used to identify new treatment strategies against pathogens. Furthermore, we briefly discuss the variety of approaches for solving dynamic optimization problems and emphasize whole-cell resource allocation models as an important emerging area of research that will allow us to study the regulation of metabolism on the whole-cell level.
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August 2017
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Activating and inhibitory long non-coding RNAs of the NF-κβ canonical pathway. In this issue, Magagula et al. explore the lncRNAs that are directly involved in regulating innate immunity at various branches of the NF-κβ pathway, and also consider their potential diagnostic and therapeutic significance. For further details, see pages 953–962
Review Article|
July 28 2017
Deciphering the regulation of metabolism with dynamic optimization: an overview of recent advances
Jan Ewald;
1Research Group Theoretical Systems Biology, Department of Bioinformatics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany
Correspondence: Jan Ewald (jan.ewald@uni-jena.de)
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Martin Bartl;
Martin Bartl
1Research Group Theoretical Systems Biology, Department of Bioinformatics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany
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Christoph Kaleta
Christoph Kaleta
2Research Group Medical Systems Biology, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
April 21 2017
Revision Received:
June 21 2017
Accepted:
June 29 2017
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© 2017 The Author(s); Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society
2017
Biochem Soc Trans (2017) 45 (4): 1035–1043.
Article history
Received:
April 21 2017
Revision Received:
June 21 2017
Accepted:
June 29 2017
Citation
Jan Ewald, Martin Bartl, Christoph Kaleta; Deciphering the regulation of metabolism with dynamic optimization: an overview of recent advances. Biochem Soc Trans 15 August 2017; 45 (4): 1035–1043. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20170137
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