Probabilistic Thermodynamic Analysis of Metabolic Networks

Abstract

Random sampling of metabolic fluxes can provide an unbiased description of the capabilities of a metabolic network. However, current sampling approaches do not model thermodynamics explicitly, leading to inaccurate predictions of an organisms potential or actual metabolic operations. We present a probabilistic framework combining thermodynamic quantities with steady-state flux constraints to analyze the properties of a metabolic network. It includes methods for probabilistic metabolic optimization and for joint sampling of thermodynamic and flux spaces. Applied to a model of E. coli, we use the methods to reveal known and novel mechanisms of substrate channeling, and to accurately predict reaction directions and metabolite concentrations. Interestingly, predicted flux distributions are multimodal, leading to discrete hypotheses on E. coli s metabolic capabilities. C++ source code with MATLAB interface available at https://gitlab.com/csb.ethz/pta.