Method for determining metabolic flux

摘要

A method for determining metabolic flux distribution of a cell, which comprises the steps of: 1) creating a stoichiometric matrix based on formulas of biochemical reactions from a substrate to a product, 2) computing a set of vectors of solutions existing in a solution space which the stoichiometric matrix may have, 3) selecting, from the computed set of vectors of solutions, maximum vectors whose vector elements corresponding to respective substances for which input values can be obtained are maximum, and 4) performing linear combination for the selected vectors in accordance with the following equations to obtain a vector representing metabolic flux distribution: $\begin{array}{cc}{S}_{\mathrm{flux}}=\sum _{i=1}^n{a}_i.p_i.S\left(i\right)+\sum _{i=1}^n{b}_i.q_i.A\left(i\right)& \left(I\right)\\ \sum _{i=1}^n{a}_i+\sum _{i=1}^n{b}_i=1& \left(\mathrm{II}\right)\end{array}$ Sflux: Vector representing metabolic flux distribution to be determined, S(i): Vector selected for substance for which inputted value can be obtained, A(i): Adjustment vector, a, b: Coefficients for linear combination (b may be 0), p: Coefficient for obtaining consistency with input value as numerical value, q: Coefficient of adjustment vector.