Scholarly Work - Center for Biofilm Engineering
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/9335
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Item Answer Set Programming for Computing Constraints-Based Elementary Flux Modes: Application to Escherichia coli Core Metabolism(MDPI AG, 2020-12) Mahout, Maxime; Carlson, Ross P.; Peres, SabineElementary Flux Modes (EFMs) provide a rigorous basis to systematically characterize the steady state, cellular phenotypes, as well as metabolic network robustness and fragility. However, the number of EFMs typically grows exponentially with the size of the metabolic network, leading to excessive computational demands, and unfortunately, a large fraction of these EFMs are not biologically feasible due to system constraints. This combinatorial explosion often prevents the complete analysis of genome-scale metabolic models. Traditionally, EFMs are computed by the double description method, an efficient algorithm based on matrix calculation; however, only a few constraints can be integrated into this computation. They must be monotonic with regard to the set inclusion of the supports; otherwise, they must be treated in post-processing and thus do not save computational time. We present aspefm, a hybrid computational tool based on Answer Set Programming (ASP) and Linear Programming (LP) that permits the computation of EFMs while implementing many different types of constraints. We apply our methodology to the Escherichia coli core model, which contains 226×106 EFMs. In considering transcriptional and environmental regulation, thermodynamic constraints, and resource usage considerations, the solution space is reduced to 1118 EFMs that can be computed directly with aspefm. The solution set, for E. coli growth on O2 gradients spanning fully aerobic to anaerobic, can be further reduced to four optimal EFMs using post-processing and Pareto front analysis.Item Pseudomonad reverse carbon catabolite repression, interspecies metabolite exchange, and consortial division of labor(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2019-11) Park, Heejoon; McGill, S. Lee; Arnold, Adrienne D.; Carlson, Ross P.Microorganisms acquire energy and nutrients from dynamic environments, where substrates vary in both type and abundance. The regulatory system responsible for prioritizing preferred substrates is known as carbon catabolite repression (CCR). Two broad classes of CCR have been documented in the literature. The best described CCR strategy, referred to here as classic CCR (cCCR), has been experimentally and theoretically studied using model organisms such as Escherichia coli. cCCR phenotypes are often used to generalize universal strategies for fitness, sometimes incorrectly. For instance, extremely competitive microorganisms, such as Pseudomonads, which arguably have broader global distributions than E. coli, have achieved their success using metabolic strategies that are nearly opposite of cCCR. These organisms utilize a CCR strategy termed ‘reverse CCR’ (rCCR), because the order of preferred substrates is nearly reverse that of cCCR. rCCR phenotypes prefer organic acids over glucose, may or may not select preferred substrates to optimize growth rates, and do not allocate intracellular resources in a manner that produces an overflow metabolism. cCCR and rCCR have traditionally been interpreted from the perspective of monocultures, even though most microorganisms live in consortia. Here, we review the basic tenets of the two CCR strategies and consider these phenotypes from the perspective of resource acquisition in consortia, a scenario that surely influenced the evolution of cCCR and rCCR. For instance, cCCR and rCCR metabolism are near mirror images of each other; when considered from a consortium basis, the complementary properties of the two strategies can mitigate direct competition for energy and nutrients and instead establish cooperative division of labor.Item Pseudomonas aeruginosa reverse diauxie is a multidimensional, optimized, resource utilization strategy(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021-01) McGill, S. Lee; Yung, Yeni; Hunt, Kristopher A.; Henson, Michael A.; Hanley, Luke; Carlson, Ross P.Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a globally-distributed bacterium often found in medical infections. The opportunistic pathogen uses a different, carbon catabolite repression (CCR) strategy than many, model microorganisms. It does not utilize a classic diauxie phenotype, nor does it follow common systems biology assumptions including preferential consumption of glucose with an ‘overflow’ metabolism. Despite these contradictions, P. aeruginosa is competitive in many, disparate environments underscoring knowledge gaps in microbial ecology and systems biology. Physiological, omics, and in silico analyses were used to quantify the P. aeruginosa CCR strategy known as ‘reverse diauxie’. An ecological basis of reverse diauxie was identified using a genome-scale, metabolic model interrogated with in vitro omics data. Reverse diauxie preference for lower energy, nonfermentable carbon sources, such as acetate or succinate over glucose, was predicted using a multidimensional strategy which minimized resource investment into central metabolism while completely oxidizing substrates. Application of a common, in silico optimization criterion, which maximizes growth rate, did not predict the reverse diauxie phenotypes. This study quantifies P. aeruginosa metabolic strategies foundational to its wide distribution and virulence including its potentially, mutualistic interactions with microorganisms found commonly in the environment and in medical infections.