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PMID: 21132020 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Review

In situ to in silico and back: elucidating the physiology and ecology of Geobacter spp. using genome-scale modelling.

Nature reviews. Microbiology ·Vol. 9 ·No. 1 ·2011-01-00 ·Pages 39-50

Mahadevan R, Palsson BØ, Lovley DR

Abstract

There is a wide diversity of unexplored metabolism encoded in the genomes of microorganisms that have an important environmental role. Genome-scale metabolic modelling enables the individual reactions that are encoded in annotated genomes to be organized into a coherent whole, which can then be used to predict metabolic fluxes that will optimize cell function under a range of conditions. In this Review, we summarize a series of studies in which genome-scale metabolic modelling of Geobacter spp. has resulted in an in-depth understanding of their central metabolism and ecology. A similar iterative modelling and experimental approach could accelerate elucidation of the physiology and ecology of other microorganisms inhabiting a diversity of environments, and could guide optimization of the practical applications of these species.

MeSH Terms
Computer Simulation Environment Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial/physiology Genome, Bacterial Geobacter/genetics,metabolism Models, Biological
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Mahadevan Radhakrishnan
Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, and Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada. [email protected]
Palsson Bernhard Ø
Lovley Derek R
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Article Info
Journal
Nature reviews. Microbiology
Abbr.
Nat Rev Microbiol
ISSN
1740-1534
DOI
10.1038/nrmicro2456
Email
[email protected]
Published
2011-01-00
Epub
2010-00-06
Pages
39-50
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
101190261
Subset
IM
Corrections
ErratumIn
-
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro2456 View journal details
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