Proteome Constraints in Genome-Scale Models

Book chapter, 2021

Genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) describe the stoichiometry of all reactions in the cellular metabolic network, and at the same time associate the reactions to the enzymes that catalyze them. This chapter discusses proteome constraints followed by examples on how one particular type of cellular constraint, namely a proteome constraint, is a powerful approach to improve the predictive strength of GEMs. Cells operate under myriad constraints that govern their phenotypes and functioning. A fundamental constraint in the context of metabolism is the conservation of mass and energy. The chapter addresses the recently developed approach GECKO to illustrate how proteome constraints can be integrated into a GEM in a coarse-grained manner. Coarse-grained approaches as GECKO provide a straightforward platform to integrate proteome constraints. Contrasting with the coarse-grained integration, fine-tuned approaches tend to explicitly integrate biological processes into a GEM, example protein synthesis process.