A statistical mechanics description of environmental variability in metabolic networks

Crofts, JJ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7751-9984 and Estrada, E, 2014. A statistical mechanics description of environmental variability in metabolic networks. Journal of Mathematical Chemistry, 52 (2), pp. 675-688. ISSN 0259-9791

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Abstract

Many of the chemical reactions that take place within a living cell are irreversible. Due to evolutionary pressures, the number of allowable reactions within these systems are highly constrained and thus the resulting metabolic networks display considerable asymmetry. In this paper, we explore possible evolutionary factors pertaining to the reduced symmetry observed in these networks, and demonstrate the important role environmental variability plays in shaping their structural organization. Interpreting the returnability index as an equilibrium constant for a reaction network in equilibrium with a hypothetical reference system, enables us to quantify the extent to which a metabolic network is in disequilibrium. Further, by introducing a new directed centrality measure via an extension of the subgraph centrality metric to directed networks, we are able to characterise individual metabolites by their participation within metabolic pathways. To demonstrate these ideas, we study 116 metabolic networks of bacteria. In particular, we find that the equilibrium constant for the metabolic networks decreases significantly in-line with variability in bacterial habitats, supporting the view that environmental variability promotes disequilibrium within these biochemical reaction systems.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Mathematical Chemistry
Creators:	Crofts, J.J. and Estrada, E.
Publisher:	Springer
Date:	2014
Volume:	52
Number:	2
ISSN:	0259-9791
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1007/s10910-013-0288-7 DOI
Rights:	© 2014 Springer
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	EPrints Services
Date Added:	09 Oct 2015 10:57
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2017 13:45
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/20542

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