PATHWAYS ANALYZER: Design of a Tool for the Synthetic Assembly of Escherichia Coli K-12 MG1655 Bacteria for Biofuel Production

Abstract

SummaryDue to the impact of environmental pollution, the importance of producing high quality biofuels and to leverage organic waste that normally would have no use has increased over time. Through synthetic biology, it is possible to improve existing organisms to process waste that is traditionally not used for biofuel production, such as whey.\n\nWith the redesign of metabolic pathways, it is possible to create connections for the implementation of new organisms that carry out functions that are normally not present in nature.\n\nFrom a computational point of view, metabolic pathways, which can be found in data sources as KEGG, can be converted to a graph data structure. These transformations enable the use of well-known algorithms, which enables the optimization of the analyses required to achieve the assembly of new organisms.\n\nThe present work aims to design a tool for the transformation of metabolic pathways and the development of path finding algorithms that establish relevant links between compounds that are essential to the biofuel production process.\n\nAs a result, a catalog of biobricks is created from the analysis of a subset of paths which can be used in the design stage of the synthetic assembly of the E. coli bacteria. The assemblys structure and functions are characterized according to the pieces used.\n\nFinally, new constructions are visualized with the goal of demonstrating and supporting the analysis processes, thus assisting people that work in the field of Synthetic Biology.\n\nAvailabilityPathways Analyzer is accessible at: https://gitlab.com/lvasquezcr/pathways-analyzer/