Modeling tools for metabolic engineering

IN THIS SECTION A NUMBER of modeling tools are described that are becoming increasingly commonplace in the practice of metabolic engineering. ese modeling tools account for metabolic network reconstruction, enumeration of all feasible ux distributions, reconciliation with various experimental data such as DNA microarray, gene essentiality experiments, isotopomer spectra, etc., and metabolism redirection for various overproduction targets. Despite the breadth of the described activities this eclectic compilation of studies is by no means a complete enumeration of all facets of metabolic engineering that has been aected by modeling and computations. Even though our knowledge of metabolism and of other interacting biological processes remains incomplete, models provide a systematic way for organizing our current understanding and computations allows us to test the limit of their predictive capabilities by revealing new biological insight and/or more oen reveal gaps in our understanding.