This paper describes a computer model of the intermediary metabolism of bacteria during steady-state growth and during adaptations, e.g. to new carbon sources. Metabolic regulation is represented as a process of optimisation, in which the trend is towards improved metabolic performance. The model uses linear programming techniques for the optimisation. The implementation falls into four phases: (i) assembly of model parameters; (ii) calculations; (iii) storage of solutions and (iv) projection of solutions. The use of a commercial database and a commercial spreadsheet has proved to be of great assistance in the first and third phases. A metabolic map format, with the optional addition of conversion values, names of enzymes or co-factors has been used to project the results in a form convenient for inspection.
[1]
D. E. Atkinson.
Cellular Energy Metabolism and its Regulation
,
1977
.
[2]
M. R. Watson.
Metabolic maps for the Apple II
,
1984
.
[3]
R..
The Growth of Micro-organisms in Relation to their Energy Supply
,
2022
.
[4]
M. R. Kibby.
The electronic spreadsheet as a general-purpose programming tool
,
1985,
Comput. Appl. Biosci..
[5]
D. Walker,et al.
The generation and utilization of energy during growth.
,
1971,
Advances in microbial physiology.
[6]
D. E. Atkinson,et al.
Adenine nucleotides as universal stoichiometric metabolic coupling agents.
,
1970,
Advances in enzyme regulation.
[7]
D G Gadian,et al.
Whole organ metabolism studied by NMR.
,
1983,
Annual review of biophysics and bioengineering.