Exploring the pathway structure of metabolism: decomposition into subnetworks and application to Mycoplasma pneumoniae

Item Type:	Article
Title:	Exploring the pathway structure of metabolism: decomposition into subnetworks and application to Mycoplasma pneumoniae
Creators Name:	Schuster, S. and Pfeiffer, T. and Moldenhauer, F. and Koch, I. and Dandekar, T.
Abstract:	Motivation: Reconstructing and analyzing the metabolic map of microorganisms is an important challenge in bioinformatics. Pathway analysis of large metabolic networks meets with the problem of combinatorial explosion of pathways. Therefore, appropriate algorithms for an automated decomposition of these networks into smaller subsystems are needed. Results: A decomposition algorithm for metabolic networks based on the local connectivity of metabolites is presented. Interrelations of this algorithm with alternative methods proposed in the literature and the theory of small world networks are discussed. The applicability of our method is illustrated by an analysis of the metabolism of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, which is an organism of considerable medical interest. The decomposition gives rise to 19 subnetworks. Three of these are here discussed in biochemical terms: arginine degradation, the tetrahydrofolate system, and nucleotide metabolism. The interrelations of pathway analysis of biochemical networks with Petri net theory are outlined.
Keywords:	Algorithms, Arginine, Biological Models, Computational Biology, Metabolism, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Nucleotides, Software
Source:	Bioinformatics
ISSN:	1367-4803
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Volume:	18
Number:	2
Page Range:	351-361
Date:	1 January 2002
Official Publication:	http://bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/18/2/351
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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