Bacterial growth rate reflects a bottleneck in resource allocation

Population dynamics of a bacterial consortium from a marine sediment of the Gulf of Mexico during biodegradation of the aromatic fraction of heavy crude oil

In the marine environment, uncontained crude oil is dispersed and degraded by abiotic or biotic processes; native bacterial populations gradually adapt to integrate interspecific and intraspecific metabolic networks for efficient and dynamic utilization of xenobiotic substrates as carbon source. Aromatic compounds accumulate in marine sediments and bacterial populations at these sites play a crucial role in the mobilization of those complex molecules into the global geochemical cycles. The aim of this work was to use native bacteria from a marine sediment sample in the Gulf of Mexico to enhance the biodegradation of the aromatic fraction from a heavy crude oil, as the sole carbon source, during a 200-day microcosm experiment. This process involved the gradual increase of the aromatic fraction into the culture to promote bacterial enrichment; the increase in viable cells correlated well with a biodegradation pattern of the aromatic fraction at some points. Bacterial biodiversity, as revealed by metagenomic and microbiological approaches, indicates that bacterial groups are present at all fraction concentrations, but with changes in abundance, richness and dominance. Population dynamics revealed the presence of bacteria that modify emulsification and surface tension reduction values, which could promote the incorporation of the highly hydrophobic polyaromatic compounds into the culture aqueous phase for their biodegradation by hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria present. On the other hand, the presence of non-hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria probably is sustained by cross-feeding events involving sugars, amino acids, short carbon compounds, lipids produced by the former bacteria by co-metabolism of complex aromatic substrates, which are transformed into diverse biomolecules for biofilm development to promote a bacterial population dynamics adapted to this environment.

Proteomic insights into survival strategies of Escherichia coli in perchlorate-rich Martian brines

Brines, potentially formed by the deliquescence and freezing point depression of highly hygroscopic salts, such as perchlorates (ClO4-), may allow for the spatial and temporal stability of liquid water on present-day Mars. It is therefore of great interest to explore the microbial habitability of Martian brines, for which our current understanding is, however, still limited. Putative microbes growing in the perchlorate-rich Martian regolith may be harmed due to the induction of various stressors including osmotic, chaotropic, and oxidative stress. We adapted the model organism Escherichia coli to increasing sodium perchlorate concentrations and used a proteomic approach to characterize the adaptive phenotype. Separately, the microbe was adapted to elevated concentrations of sodium chloride and glycerol, which enabled us to distinguish perchlorate-specific adaptation mechanisms from those in response to osmotic, ion and water activity stress. We found that the perchlorate-specific stress response focused on pathways alleviating damage to nucleic acids, presumably caused by increased chaotropic and/or oxidative stress. The significant enrichments that have been found include DNA repair, RNA methylation and de novo inosine monophosphate (IMP) biosynthesis. Our study provides insights into the adaptive mechanisms necessary for microorganisms to survive under perchlorate stress, with implications for understanding the habitability of Martian brines.

The design of unit cells by combining the self-reproduction systems and metabolic cushioning loads

Recently, we published a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the self-reproduction processes in proto-cells (doubling of their components) composed of different combinations of cellular subsystems. In this paper, we extend the detailed analysis of structural and functional peculiarities of self-reproduction processes to unit cells of the Cooper-Helmstetter-Donachie cell cycle theory. We show that: 1. Our modelling framework allows to calculate physiological parameters (numbers of cell components, flux patterns, cellular composition, etc.) of unit cells, including also unit cell mass that determines the DNA replication initiation conditions. 2. Unit cells might have additional cell (cushioning) components that are responsible not only for carrying out various special functions, but also for regulating cell size and stabilizing the growth of cells. 3. The optimal productivity of the synthesis of cushioning components (useful cellular load) is observed at doubling time approximately two times longer than the minimal doubling time of the unit cells.

The metabolic burden associated with plasmid acquisition: An assessment of the unrecognized benefits to host cells

Bacterial conjugation, wherein DNA is transferred between cells through direct contact, is highly prevalent in complex microbial communities and is responsible for spreading myriad genes related to human and environmental health. Despite their importance, much remains unknown regarding the mechanisms driving the spread and persistence of these plasmids in situ. Studies have demonstrated that transferring, acquiring, and maintaining a plasmid imposes a significant metabolic burden on the host. Simultaneously, emerging evidence suggests that the presence of a conjugative plasmid can also provide both obvious and unexpected benefits to their host and local community. Combined, this highlights a continuous cost-benefit tradeoff at the population level, likely contributing to overall plasmid abundance and long-term persistence. Yet, while the metabolic burdens of plasmid conjugation, and their causes, are widely studied, their attendant potential advantages are less clear. Here, we summarize current perspectives on conjugative plasmids' metabolic burden and then highlight the lesser-appreciated yet critical benefits that plasmid-mediated metabolic burdens may provide. We argue that this largely unexplored tradeoff is critical to both a fundamental theory of microbial populations and engineering applications and therefore warrants further detailed study.

Metabolic modelling links Warburg effect to collagen formation, angiogenesis and inflammation in the tumoral stroma

Cancer cells are known to express the Warburg effect-increased glycolysis and formation of lactic acid even in the presence of oxygen-as well as high glutamine uptake. In tumors, cancer cells are surrounded by collagen, immune cells, and neoangiogenesis. Whether collagen formation, neoangiogenesis, and inflammation in cancer are associated with the Warburg effect needs to be established. Metabolic modelling has proven to be a tool of choice to understand biological reality better and make in silico predictions. Elementary Flux Modes (EFMs) are essential for conducting an unbiased decomposition of a metabolic model into its minimal functional units. EFMs can be investigated using our tool, aspefm, an innovative approach based on logic programming where biological constraints can be incorporated. These constraints allow networks to be characterized regardless of their size. Using a metabolic model of the human cell containing collagen, neoangiogenesis, and inflammation markers, we derived a subset of EFMs of biological relevance to the Warburg effect. Within this model, EFMs analysis provided more adequate results than parsimonious flux balance analysis and flux sampling. Upon further inspection, the EFM with the best linear regression fit to cancer cell lines exometabolomics data was selected. The minimal pathway, presenting the Warburg effect, collagen synthesis, angiogenesis, and release of inflammation markers, showed that collagen production was possible directly de novo from glutamine uptake and without extracellular import of glycine and proline, collagen's main constituents.

Integration of proteomic data with genome-scale metabolic models: A methodological overview

The integration of proteomics data with constraint-based reconstruction and analysis (COBRA) models plays a pivotal role in understanding the relationship between genotype and phenotype and bridges the gap between genome-level phenomena and functional adaptations. Integrating a generic genome-scale model with information on proteins enables generation of a context-specific metabolic model which improves the accuracy of model prediction. This review explores methodologies for incorporating proteomics data into genome-scale models. Available methods are grouped into four distinct categories based on their approach to integrate proteomics data and their depth of modeling. Within each category section various methods are introduced in chronological order of publication demonstrating the progress of this field. Furthermore, challenges and potential solutions to further progress are outlined, including the limited availability of appropriate in vitro data, experimental enzyme turnover rates, and the trade-off between model accuracy, computational tractability, and data scarcity. In conclusion, methods employing simpler approaches demand fewer kinetic and omics data, consequently leading to a less complex mathematical problem and reduced computational expenses. On the other hand, approaches that delve deeper into cellular mechanisms and aim to create detailed mathematical models necessitate more extensive kinetic and omics data, resulting in a more complex and computationally demanding problem. However, in some cases, this increased cost can be justified by the potential for more precise predictions.

Cell Geometry and Membrane Protein Crowding Constrain Growth Rate, Overflow Metabolism, Respiration, and Maintenance Energy

A metabolic theory is presented for predicting maximum growth rate, overflow metabolism, respiration efficiency, and maintenance energy flux based on the intersection of cell geometry, membrane protein crowding, and metabolism. The importance of cytosolic macromolecular crowding on phenotype has been established in the literature but the importance of surface area has been largely overlooked due to incomplete knowledge of membrane properties. We demonstrate that the capacity of the membrane to host proteins increases with growth rate offsetting decreases in surface area-to-volume ratios (SA:V). This increase in membrane protein is hypothesized to be essential to competitive Escherichia coli phenotypes. The presented membrane-centric theory uses biophysical properties and metabolic systems analysis to successfully predict the phenotypes of E. coli K-12 strains, MG1655 and NCM3722, which are genetically similar but have SA:V ratios that differ up to 30%, maximum growth rates on glucose media that differ by 40%, and overflow phenotypes that start at growth rates that differ by 80%. These analyses did not consider cytosolic macromolecular crowding, highlighting the distinct properties of the presented theory. Cell geometry and membrane protein crowding are significant biophysical constraints on phenotype and provide a theoretical framework for improved understanding and control of cell biology.

The hallmarks of a tradeoff in transcriptomes that balances stress and growth functions

Fast growth phenotypes are achieved through optimal transcriptomic allocation, in which cells must balance tradeoffs in resource allocation between diverse functions. One such balance between stress readiness and unbridled growth in E. coli has been termed the fear versus greed (f/g) tradeoff. Two specific RNA polymerase (RNAP) mutations observed in adaptation to fast growth have been previously shown to affect the f/g tradeoff, suggesting that genetic adaptations may be primed to control f/g resource allocation. Here, we conduct a greatly expanded study of the genetic control of the f/g tradeoff across diverse conditions. We introduced 12 RNA polymerase (RNAP) mutations commonly acquired during adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) and obtained expression profiles of each. We found that these single RNAP mutation strains resulted in large shifts in the f/g tradeoff primarily in the RpoS regulon and ribosomal genes, likely through modifying RNAP-DNA interactions. Two of these mutations additionally caused condition-specific transcriptional adaptations. While this tradeoff was previously characterized by the RpoS regulon and ribosomal expression, we find that the GAD regulon plays an important role in stress readiness and ppGpp in translation activity, expanding the scope of the tradeoff. A phylogenetic analysis found the greed-related genes of the tradeoff present in numerous bacterial species. The results suggest that the f/g tradeoff represents a general principle of transcriptome allocation in bacteria where small genetic changes can result in large phenotypic adaptations to growth conditions.IMPORTANCETo increase growth, E. coli must raise ribosomal content at the expense of non-growth functions. Previous studies have linked RNAP mutations to this transcriptional shift and increased growth but were focused on only two mutations found in the protein's central region. RNAP mutations, however, commonly occur over a large structural range. To explore RNAP mutations' impact, we have introduced 12 RNAP mutations found in laboratory evolution experiments and obtained expression profiles of each. The mutations nearly universally increased growth rates by adjusting said tradeoff away from non-growth functions. In addition to this shift, a few caused condition-specific adaptations. We explored the prevalence of this tradeoff across phylogeny and found it to be a widespread and conserved trend among bacteria.

Convex Representation of Metabolic Networks with Michaelis-Menten Kinetics

Polyhedral models of metabolic networks are computationally tractable and can predict some cellular functions. A longstanding challenge is incorporating metabolites without losing tractability. In this paper, we do so using a new second-order cone representation of the Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The resulting model consists of linear stoichiometric constraints alongside second-order cone constraints that couple the reaction fluxes to metabolite concentrations. We formulate several new problems around this model: conic flux balance analysis, which augments flux balance analysis with metabolite concentrations; dynamic conic flux balance analysis; and finding minimal cut sets of networks with both reactions and metabolites. Solving these problems yields information about both fluxes and metabolite concentrations. They are second-order cone or mixed-integer second-order cone programs, which, while not as tractable as their linear counterparts, can nonetheless be solved at practical scales using existing software.

Trade-offs between the instantaneous growth rate and long-term fitness: Consequences for microbial physiology and predictive computational models

Microbial systems biology has made enormous advances in relating microbial physiology to the underlying biochemistry and molecular biology. By meticulously studying model microorganisms, in particular Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, increasingly comprehensive computational models predict metabolic fluxes, protein expression, and growth. The modeling rationale is that cells are constrained by a limited pool of resources that they allocate optimally to maximize fitness. As a consequence, the expression of particular proteins is at the expense of others, causing trade-offs between cellular objectives such as instantaneous growth, stress tolerance, and capacity to adapt to new environments. While current computational models are remarkably predictive for E. coli and S. cerevisiae when grown in laboratory environments, this may not hold for other growth conditions and other microorganisms. In this contribution, we therefore discuss the relationship between the instantaneous growth rate, limited resources, and long-term fitness. We discuss uses and limitations of current computational models, in particular for rapidly changing and adverse environments, and propose to classify microbial growth strategies based on Grimes's CSR framework.

Self-reproduction and doubling time limits of different cellular subsystems

Ribosomes which can self-replicate themselves practically autonomously in beneficial physicochemical conditions have been recognized as the central organelles of cellular self-reproduction processes. The challenge of cell design is to understand and describe the rates and mechanisms of self-reproduction processes of cells as of coordinated functioning of ribosomes and the enzymatic networks of different functional complexity that support those ribosomes. We show that doubling times of proto-cells (ranging from simplest replicators up to those reaching the size of E. coli) increase rather with the number of different cell component species than with the total numbers of cell components. However, certain differences were observed between cell components in increasing the doubling times depending on the types of relationships between those cell components and ribosomes. Theoretical limits of doubling times of the self-reproducing proto-cells determined by the molecular parameters of cell components and cell processes were in the range between 6-40 min.

Functional decomposition of metabolism allows a system-level quantification of fluxes and protein allocation towards specific metabolic functions

Quantifying the contribution of individual molecular components to complex cellular processes is a grand challenge in systems biology. Here we establish a general theoretical framework (Functional Decomposition of Metabolism, FDM) to quantify the contribution of every metabolic reaction to metabolic functions, e.g. the synthesis of biomass building blocks. FDM allowed for a detailed quantification of the energy and biosynthesis budget for growing Escherichia coli cells. Surprisingly, the ATP generated during the biosynthesis of building blocks from glucose almost balances the demand from protein synthesis, the largest energy expenditure known for growing cells. This leaves the bulk of the energy generated by fermentation and respiration unaccounted for, thus challenging the common notion that energy is a key growth-limiting resource. Moreover, FDM together with proteomics enables the quantification of enzymes contributing towards each metabolic function, allowing for a first-principle formulation of a coarse-grained model of global protein allocation based on the structure of the metabolic network.

Microbial Growth under Limiting Conditions-Future Perspectives

Microorganisms rule the functioning of our planet and each one of the individual macroscopic living creature. Nevertheless, microbial activity and growth status have always been challenging tasks to determine both in situ and in vivo. Microbial activity is generally related to growth, and the growth rate is a result of the availability of nutrients under adequate or adverse conditions faced by microbial cells in a changing environment. Most studies on microorganisms have been carried out under optimum or near-optimum growth conditions, but scarce information is available about microorganisms at slow-growing states (i.e., near-zero growth and maintenance metabolism). This study aims to better understand microorganisms under growth-limiting conditions. This is expected to provide new perspectives on the functions and relevance of the microbial world. This is because (i) microorganisms in nature frequently face conditions of severe growth limitation, (ii) microorganisms activate singular pathways (mostly genes remaining to be functionally annotated), resulting in a broad range of secondary metabolites, and (iii) the response of microorganisms to slow-growth conditions remains to be understood, including persistence strategies, gene expression, and cell differentiation both within clonal populations and due to the complexity of the environment.

Vibrio natriegens genome-scale modeling reveals insights into halophilic adaptations and resource allocation

Vibrio natriegens is a Gram-negative bacterium with an exceptional growth rate that has the potential to become a standard biotechnological host for laboratory and industrial bioproduction. Despite this burgeoning interest, the current lack of organism-specific qualitative and quantitative computational tools has hampered the community's ability to rationally engineer this bacterium. In this study, we present the first genome-scale metabolic model (GSMM) of V. natriegens. The GSMM (iLC858) was developed using an automated draft assembly and extensive manual curation and was validated by comparing predicted yields, central metabolic fluxes, viable carbon substrates, and essential genes with empirical data. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics data confirmed the translation of at least 76% of the enzyme-encoding genes predicted to be expressed by the model during aerobic growth in a minimal medium. iLC858 was subsequently used to carry out a metabolic comparison between the model organism Escherichia coli and V. natriegens, leading to an analysis of the model architecture of V. natriegens' respiratory and ATP-generating system and the discovery of a role for a sodium-dependent oxaloacetate decarboxylase pump. The proteomics data were further used to investigate additional halophilic adaptations of V. natriegens. Finally, iLC858 was utilized to create a Resource Balance Analysis model to study the allocation of carbon resources. Taken together, the models presented provide useful computational tools to guide metabolic engineering efforts in V. natriegens.

Simple Growth–Metabolism Relations Are Revealed by Conserved Patterns of Heat Flow from Cultured Microorganisms

Quantitative analyses of cell replication address the connection between metabolism and growth. Various growth models approximate time-dependent cell numbers in culture media, but physiological implications of the parametrizations are vague. In contrast, isothermal microcalorimetry (IMC) measures with unprecedented sensitivity the heat (enthalpy) release via chemical turnover in metabolizing cells. Hence, the metabolic activity can be studied independently of modeling the time-dependence of cell numbers. Unexpectedly, IMC traces of various origins exhibit conserved patterns when expressed in the enthalpy domain rather than the time domain, as exemplified by cultures of Lactococcus lactis (prokaryote), Trypanosoma congolese (protozoan) and non-growing Brassica napus (plant) cells. The data comply extraordinarily well with a dynamic Langmuir adsorption reaction model of nutrient uptake and catalytic turnover generalized here to the non-constancy of catalytic capacity. Formal relations to Michaelis–Menten kinetics and common analytical growth models are briefly discussed. The proposed formalism reproduces the “life span” of cultured microorganisms from exponential growth to metabolic decline by a succession of distinct metabolic phases following remarkably simple nutrient–metabolism relations. The analysis enables the development of advanced enzyme network models of unbalanced growth and has fundamental consequences for the derivation of toxicity measures and the transferability of metabolic activity data between laboratories.

Elementary vectors and autocatalytic sets for resource allocation in next-generation models of cellular growth

Traditional (genome-scale) metabolic models of cellular growth involve an approximate biomass “reaction”, which specifies biomass composition in terms of precursor metabolites (such as amino acids and nucleotides). On the one hand, biomass composition is often not known exactly and may vary drastically between conditions and strains. On the other hand, the predictions of computational models crucially depend on biomass. Also elementary flux modes (EFMs), which generate the flux cone, depend on the biomass reaction. To better understand cellular phenotypes across growth conditions, we introduce and analyze new classes of elementary vectors for comprehensive (next-generation) metabolic models, involving explicit synthesis reactions for all macromolecules. Elementary growth modes (EGMs) are given by stoichiometry and generate the growth cone. Unlike EFMs, they are not support-minimal, in general, but cannot be decomposed “without cancellations”. In models with additional (capacity) constraints, elementary growth vectors (EGVs) generate a growth polyhedron and depend also on growth rate. However, EGMs/EGVs do not depend on the biomass composition. In fact, they cover all possible biomass compositions and can be seen as unbiased versions of elementary flux modes/vectors (EFMs/EFVs) used in traditional models. To relate the new concepts to other branches of theory, we consider autocatalytic sets of reactions. Further, we illustrate our results in a small model of a self-fabricating cell, involving glucose and ammonium uptake, amino acid and lipid synthesis, and the expression of all enzymes and the ribosome itself. In particular, we study the variation of biomass composition as a function of growth rate. In agreement with experimental data, low nitrogen uptake correlates with high carbon (lipid) storage.

Next-generation, genome-scale metabolic models allow to study the reallocation of cellular resources upon changing environmental conditions, by not only modeling flux distributions, but also expression profiles of the catalyzing proteome. In particular, they do no longer assume a fixed biomass composition. Methods to identify optimal solutions in such comprehensive models exist, however, an unbiased understanding of all feasible allocations is missing so far. Here we develop new concepts, called elementary growth modes and vectors, that provide a generalized definition of minimal pathways, thereby extending classical elementary flux modes (used in traditional models with a fixed biomass composition). The new concepts provide an understanding of all possible flux distributions and of all possible biomass compositions. In other words, elementary growth modes and vectors are the unique functional units in any comprehensive model of cellular growth. As an example, we show that lipid accumulation upon nitrogen starvation is a consequence of resource allocation and does not require active regulation. Our work puts current approaches on a theoretical basis and allows to seamlessly transfer existing workflows (e.g. for the design of cell factories) to next-generation metabolic models.

Elucidating Plant-Microbe-Environment Interactions Through Omics-Enabled Metabolic Modelling Using Synthetic Communities

With a growing world population and increasing frequency of climate disturbance events, we are in dire need of methods to improve plant productivity, resilience, and resistance to both abiotic and biotic stressors, both for agriculture and conservation efforts. Microorganisms play an essential role in supporting plant growth, environmental response, and susceptibility to disease. However, understanding the specific mechanisms by which microbes interact with each other and with plants to influence plant phenotypes is a major challenge due to the complexity of natural communities, simultaneous competition and cooperation effects, signalling interactions, and environmental impacts. Synthetic communities are a major asset in reducing the complexity of these systems by simplifying to dominant components and isolating specific variables for controlled experiments, yet there still remains a large gap in our understanding of plant microbiome interactions. This perspectives article presents a brief review discussing ways in which metabolic modelling can be used in combination with synthetic communities to continue progress toward understanding the complexity of plant-microbe-environment interactions. We highlight the utility of metabolic models as applied to a community setting, identify different applications for both flux balance and elementary flux mode simulation approaches, emphasize the importance of ecological theory in guiding data interpretation, and provide ideas for how the integration of metabolic modelling techniques with big data may bridge the gap between simplified synthetic communities and the complexity of natural plant-microbe systems.

Protocol for hybrid flux balance, statistical, and machine learning analysis of multi-omic data from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002

Combining a computational framework for flux balance analysis with machine learning improves the accuracy of predicting metabolic activity across conditions, while enabling mechanistic interpretation. This protocol presents a guide to condition-specific metabolic modeling that integrates regularized flux balance analysis with machine learning approaches to extract key features from transcriptomic and fluxomic data. We demonstrate the protocol as applied to Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002; we also outline how it can be adapted to any species or community with available multi-omic data. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Vijayakumar et al. (2020).

On the optimality of the enzyme-substrate relationship in bacteria

Much recent progress has been made to understand the impact of proteome allocation on bacterial growth; much less is known about the relationship between the abundances of the enzymes and their substrates, which jointly determine metabolic fluxes. Here, we report a correlation between the concentrations of enzymes and their substrates in Escherichia coli. We suggest this relationship to be a consequence of optimal resource allocation, subject to an overall constraint on the biomass density: For a cellular reaction network composed of effectively irreversible reactions, maximal reaction flux is achieved when the dry mass allocated to each substrate is equal to the dry mass of the unsaturated (or “free”) enzymes waiting to consume it. Calculations based on this optimality principle successfully predict the quantitative relationship between the observed enzyme and metabolite abundances, parameterized only by molecular masses and enzyme–substrate dissociation constants (K_m). The corresponding organizing principle provides a fundamental rationale for cellular investment into different types of molecules, which may aid in the design of more efficient synthetic cellular systems.

This study shows that in E. coli, the cellular mass of each metabolite approximately equals the combined mass of the free enzymes waiting to consume it; this simple relationship arises from the optimal utilization of cellular dry mass, and quantitatively describes available experimental data.

Understanding and mathematical modelling of cellular resource allocation in microorganisms: a comparative synthesis

BACKGROUND

The rising consensus that the cell can dynamically allocate its resources provides an interesting angle for discovering the governing principles of cell growth and metabolism. Extensive efforts have been made in the past decade to elucidate the relationship between resource allocation and phenotypic patterns of microorganisms. Despite these exciting developments, there is still a lack of explicit comparison between potentially competing propositions and a lack of synthesis of inter-related proposals and findings.

RESULTS

In this work, we have reviewed resource allocation-derived principles, hypotheses and mathematical models to recapitulate important achievements in this area. In particular, the emergence of resource allocation phenomena is deciphered by the putative tug of war between the cellular objectives, demands and the supply capability. Competing hypotheses for explaining the most-studied phenomenon arising from resource allocation, i.e. the overflow metabolism, have been re-examined towards uncovering the potential physiological root cause. The possible link between proteome fractions and the partition of the ribosomal machinery has been analysed through mathematical derivations. Finally, open questions are highlighted and an outlook on the practical applications is provided. It is the authors' intention that this review contributes to a clearer understanding of the role of resource allocation in resolving bacterial growth strategies, one of the central questions in microbiology.

CONCLUSIONS

We have shown the importance of resource allocation in understanding various aspects of cellular systems. Several important questions such as the physiological root cause of overflow metabolism and the correct interpretation of 'protein costs' are shown to remain open. As the understanding of the mechanisms and utility of resource application in cellular systems further develops, we anticipate that mathematical modelling tools incorporating resource allocation will facilitate the circuit-host design in synthetic biology.

Climatic Alterations Influence Bacterial Growth, Biofilm Production and Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles in Aeromonas spp

Climate change is expected to create environmental disruptions that will impact a wide array of biota. Projections for freshwater ecosystems include severe alterations with gradients across geographical areas. Life traits in bacteria are modulated by environmental parameters, but there is still uncertainty regarding bacterial responses to changes caused by climatic alterations. In this study, we used a river water microcosm model to evaluate how Aeromonas spp., an important pathogenic and zoonotic genus ubiquitary in aquatic ecosystems, responds to environmental variations of temperature and pH as expected by future projections. Namely, we evaluated bacterial growth, biofilm production and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Aeromonas species in pure and mixed cultures. Biofilm production was significantly influenced by temperature and culture, while temperature and pH affected bacterial growth. Reversion of antimicrobial susceptibility status occurred in the majority of strains and tested antimicrobial compounds, with several combinations of temperature and pH contributing to this effect. Current results highlight the consequences that bacterial genus such as Aeromonas will experience with climatic alterations, specifically how their proliferation and virulence and phenotypic resistance expression will be modulated. Such information is fundamental to predict and prevent future outbreaks and deleterious effects that these bacterial species might have in human and animal populations.

The impact of carbon and nitrogen catabolite repression in microorganisms

Organisms have cellular machinery that is focused on optimum utilization of resources to maximize growth and survival depending on various environmental and developmental factors. Catabolite repression is a strategy utilized by various species of bacteria and fungi to accommodate changes in the environment such as the depletion of resources, or an abundance of less-favored nutrient sources. Catabolite repression allows for the rapid use of certain substrates like glucose over other carbon sources. Effective handling of carbon and nitrogen catabolite repression in microorganisms is crucial to outcompete others in nutrient limiting conditions. Investigations into genes and proteins linked to preferential uptake of different nutrients under various environmental conditions can aid in identifying regulatory mechanisms that are crucial for optimum growth and survival of microorganisms. The exact time and way bacteria and fungi switch their utilization of certain nutrients is of great interest for scientific, industrial, and clinical reasons. Catabolite repression is of great significance for industrial applications that rely on microorganisms for the generation of valuable bio-products. The impact catabolite repression has on virulence of pathogenic bacteria and fungi and disease progression in hosts makes it important area of interest in medical research for the prevention of diseases and developing new treatment strategies. Regulatory networks under catabolite repression exemplify the flexibility and the tremendous diversity that is found in microorganisms and provides an impetus for newer insights into these networks.

Enhancing in silico strain design predictions through next generation metabolic modeling approaches

The reconstruction and analysis of metabolic models has garnered increasing attention due to the multitude of applications in which these have proven to be practical. The growing number of generated metabolic models has been accompanied by an exponentially expanding arsenal of tools used to analyze them. In this work, we discussed the biological relevance of a number of promising modeling frameworks, focusing on the questions and hypotheses each method is equipped to address. To this end, we critically analyzed the steady-state modeling approaches focusing on resource allocation and incorporation of thermodynamic considerations which produce promising results and aid in the generation and experimental validation of numerous predictions. For smaller networks involving more complex regulation, we addressed kinetic modeling techniques which show encouraging results in addressing questions outside the scope of steady-state modeling. Finally, we discussed the potential application of the discussed frameworks within the field of strain design. Adoption of such methodologies is believed to significantly enhance the accuracy of in silico predictions and hence decrease the number of design-build-test cycles required.

A phenomenological model to infer the microbial growth: A case study for psychrotrophic pathogenic bacteria

AIMS

The two-parameter (α and β) Schiraldi's model reliably fits growth curves of psychrotrophic pathogens and suggests a different description of the latency phase.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Data obtained at various temperatures and different starting cell densities for Aeromonas hydrophila, Listeria monocytogenes and Yersinia enterocolitica have been fitted with the Baranyi and Roberts' model and the new one. On average, the former showed higher standard error and R² values (0.140 and 0.991) than the Schiraldi's one (0.079 and 0.983). Around 15℃, the increase of temperature showed a milder effect on the growth rate than that expected. Y. enterocolitica showed a practically null duration of the lag phase, no matter the value of the starting density, whereas A. hydrophila and L. monocytogenes revealed slower onset trends.

CONCLUSIONS

Parameter β defines the number of cell duplications and appears independent on temperature, while (β/α)^1/2 is proportional to the maximum specific growth rate. The α^-1/2 versus temperature trend directly reflects the corresponding behaviour of the growth rate and does not require the use of Arrhenius plots.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

Values of the parameters α and β, as well as the duration of the latency phase, allowed some considerations about the effect of storage temperature in terms of food safety, especially for psychrotrophic bacteria of concern.

Formation, characterization and modeling of emergent synthetic microbial communities

Microbial communities colonize plant tissues and contribute to host function. How these communities form and how individual members contribute to shaping the microbial community are not well understood. Synthetic microbial communities, where defined individual isolates are combined, can serve as valuable model systems for uncovering the organizational principles of communities. Using genome-defined organisms, systematic analysis by computationally-based network reconstruction can lead to mechanistic insights and the metabolic interactions between species. In this study, 10 bacterial strains isolated from the Populus deltoides rhizosphere were combined and passaged in two different media environments to form stable microbial communities. The membership and relative abundances of the strains stabilized after around 5 growth cycles and resulted in just a few dominant strains that depended on the medium. To unravel the underlying metabolic interactions, flux balance analysis was used to model microbial growth and identify potential metabolic exchanges involved in shaping the microbial communities. These analyses were complemented by growth curves of the individual isolates, pairwise interaction screens, and metaproteomics of the community. A fast growth rate is identified as one factor that can provide an advantage for maintaining presence in the community. Final community selection can also depend on selective antagonistic relationships and metabolic exchanges. Revealing the mechanisms of interaction among plant-associated microorganisms provides insights into strategies for engineering microbial communities that can potentially increase plant growth and disease resistance. Further, deciphering the membership and metabolic potentials of a bacterial community will enable the design of synthetic communities with desired biological functions.

Proteome Regulation Patterns Determine Escherichia coli Wild-Type and Mutant Phenotypes

It is generally recognized that proteins constitute the key cellular component in shaping microbial phenotypes. Due to limited cellular resources and space, optimal allocation of proteins is crucial for microbes to facilitate maximum proliferation rates while allowing a flexible response to environmental changes. To account for the growth condition-dependent proteome in the constraint-based metabolic modeling of Escherichia coli, we consolidated a coarse-grained protein allocation approach with the explicit consideration of enzymatic constraints on reaction fluxes. Besides representing physiologically relevant wild-type phenotypes and flux distributions, the resulting protein allocation model (PAM) advances the predictability of the metabolic responses to genetic perturbations. A main driver of mutant phenotypes was ascribed to inherited regulation patterns in protein distribution among metabolic enzymes. Moreover, the PAM correctly reflected metabolic responses to an augmented protein burden imposed by the heterologous expression of green fluorescent protein. In summary, we were able to model the effects of important and frequently applied metabolic engineering approaches on microbial metabolism. Therefore, we want to promote the integration of protein allocation constraints into classical constraint-based models to foster their predictive capabilities and application for strain analysis and engineering purposes.

IMPORTANCE Predictive metabolic models are important, e.g., for generating biological knowledge and designing microbes with superior performance for target compound production. Yet today’s whole-cell models either show insufficient predictive capabilities or are computationally too expensive to be applied to metabolic engineering purposes. By linking the inherent genotype-phenotype relationship to a complete representation of the proteome, the PAM advances the accuracy of simulated phenotypes and intracellular flux distributions of E. coli. Being equally computationally lightweight as classical stoichiometric models and allowing for the application of established in silico tools, the PAM and related simulation approaches will foster the use of a model-driven metabolic research. Applications range from the investigation of mechanisms of microbial evolution to the determination of optimal strain design strategies in metabolic engineering, thus supporting basic scientists and engineers alike.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa reverse diauxie is a multidimensional, optimized, resource utilization strategy

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.

Recent advances in constraint and machine learning-based metabolic modeling by leveraging stoichiometric balances, thermodynamic feasibility and kinetic law formalisms

Understanding the governing principles behind organisms' metabolism and growth underpins their effective deployment as bioproduction chassis. A central objective of metabolic modeling is predicting how metabolism and growth are affected by both external environmental factors and internal genotypic perturbations. The fundamental concepts of reaction stoichiometry, thermodynamics, and mass action kinetics have emerged as the foundational principles of many modeling frameworks designed to describe how and why organisms allocate resources towards both growth and bioproduction. This review focuses on the latest algorithmic advancements that have integrated these foundational principles into increasingly sophisticated quantitative frameworks.

Resource allocation explains lactic acid production in mixed-culture anaerobic fermentations

Lactate production in anaerobic carbohydrate fermentations with mixed cultures of microorganisms is generally observed only in very specific conditions: the reactor should be run discontinuously and peptides and B vitamins must be present in the culture medium as lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are typically auxotrophic for amino acids. State-of-the-art anaerobic fermentation models assume that microorganisms optimise the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) yield on substrate and therefore they do not predict the less ATP efficient lactate production, which limits their application for designing lactate production in mixed-culture fermentations. In this study, a metabolic model taking into account cellular resource allocation and limitation is proposed to predict and analyse under which conditions lactate production from glucose can be beneficial for microorganisms. The model uses a flux balances analysis approach incorporating additional constraints from the resource allocation theory and simulates glucose fermentation in a continuous reactor. This approach predicts lactate production is predicted at high dilution rates, provided that amino acids are in the culture medium. In minimal medium and lower dilution rates, mostly butyrate and no lactate is predicted. Auxotrophy for amino acids of LAB is identified to provide a competitive advantage in rich media because less resources need to be allocated for anabolic machinery and higher specific growth rates can be achieved. The Matlab™ codes required for performing the simulations presented in this study are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4031144.

Statistical modelling of bacterial promoter sequences for regulatory motif discovery with the help of transcriptome data: application to Listeria monocytogenes

Automatic de novo identification of the main regulons of a bacterium from genome and transcriptome data remains a challenge. To address this task, we propose a statistical model that can use information on exact positions of the transcription start sites and condition-dependent expression profiles. The central idea of this model is to improve the probabilistic representation of the promoter DNA sequences by incorporating covariates summarizing expression profiles (e.g. coordinates in projection spaces or hierarchical clustering trees). A dedicated trans-dimensional Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm adjusts the width and palindromic properties of the corresponding position-weight matrices, the number of parameters to describe exact position relative to the transcription start site, and chooses the expression covariates relevant for each motif. All parameters are estimated simultaneously, for many motifs and many expression covariates. The method is applied to a dataset of transcription start sites and expression profiles available for Listeria monocytogenes. The results validate the approach and provide a new global view of the transcription regulatory network of this important pathogen. Remarkably, a previously unreported motif is found in promoter regions of ribosomal protein genes, suggesting a role in the regulation of growth.

Dynamic metabolic resource allocation based on the maximum entropy principle

Organisms have evolved a variety of mechanisms to cope with the unpredictability of environmental conditions, and yet mainstream models of metabolic regulation are typically based on strict optimality principles that do not account for uncertainty. This paper introduces a dynamic metabolic modelling framework that is a synthesis of recent ideas on resource allocation and the powerful optimal control formulation of Ramkrishna and colleagues. In particular, their work is extended based on the hypothesis that cellular resources are allocated among elementary flux modes according to the principle of maximum entropy. These concepts both generalise and unify prior approaches to dynamic metabolic modelling by establishing a smooth interpolation between dynamic flux balance analysis and dynamic metabolic models without regulation. The resulting theory is successful in describing 'bet-hedging' strategies employed by cell populations dealing with uncertainty in a fluctuating environment, including heterogenous resource investment, accumulation of reserves in growth-limiting conditions, and the observed behaviour of yeast growing in batch and continuous cultures. The maximum entropy principle is also shown to yield an optimal control law consistent with partitioning resources between elementary flux mode families, which has important practical implications for model reduction, selection, and simulation.

Bridging substrate intake kinetics and bacterial growth phenotypes with flux balance analysis incorporating proteome allocation

Empirical kinetic models such as the Monod equation have been widely applied to relate the cell growth with substrate availability. The Monod equation shares a similar form with the mechanistically-based Michaelis-Menten kinetics for enzymatic processes, which has provoked long-standing and un-concluded conjectures on their relationship. In this work, we integrated proteome allocation principles into a Flux Balance Analysis (FBA) model of Escherichia coli, which quantitatively revealed potential mechanisms that underpin the phenomenological Monod parameters: the maximum specific growth rate could be dictated by the abundance of growth-controlling proteome and growth-pertinent proteome cost; more importantly, the Monod constant (K_s) was shown to relate to the Michaelis constant for substrate transport (K_m,g), with the link being dependent on the cell's metabolic strategy. Besides, the proposed model was able to predict glucose uptake rate at given external glucose concentration through the size of available proteome resource for substrate transport and its enzymatic cost, while growth rate and acetate overflow were accurately simulated for two E. coli strains. Bridging the enzymatic kinetics of substrate intake and overall growth phenotypes, this work offers a mechanistic interpretation to the empirical Monod law, and demonstrates the potential of coupling local and global cellular constrains in predictive modelling.

Pseudomonad reverse carbon catabolite repression, interspecies metabolite exchange, and consortial division of labor

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.

Modelling microbial communities using biochemical resource allocation analysis

To understand the functioning and dynamics of microbial communities is a fundamental challenge in current biology. To tackle this challenge, the construction of computational models of interacting microbes is an indispensable tool. There is, however, a large chasm between ecologically motivated descriptions of microbial growth used in many current ecosystems simulations, and detailed metabolic pathway and genome-based descriptions developed in the context of systems and synthetic biology. Here, we seek to demonstrate how resource allocation models of microbial growth offer the potential to advance ecosystem simulations and their parametrization. In particular, recent work on quantitative resource allocation allow us to formulate mechanistic models of microbial growth that are physiologically meaningful while remaining computationally tractable. These models go beyond Michaelis-Menten and Monod-type growth models, and are capable of accounting for emergent properties that underlie the remarkable plasticity of microbial growth. We outline the utility and advantages of using biochemical resource allocation models by considering a coarse-grained model of cyanobacterial growth and demonstrate how the model allows us to address specific questions of relevance for the simulation of marine microbial ecosystems, including the physiological acclimation of protein expression to different environments, the description of co-limitation by several nutrients and the differential use of alternative nutrient sources, as well as the description of metabolic diversity based on our increasing knowledge about quantitative cell physiology.

Trade-offs between gene expression, growth and phenotypic diversity in microbial populations

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Limitations in molecular resources for gene expression influence bacterial physiology.

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Bacteria optimise trade-offs between resource allocation and growth.

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Resource allocation plays a role in the emergence of phenotypic heterogeneity.

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Trade-offs between bet-hedging and growth can be harnessed in biotechnology.

Bacterial cells have a limited number of resources that can be allocated for gene expression. The intracellular competition for these resources has an impact on the cell physiology. Bacteria have evolved mechanisms to optimize resource allocation in a variety of scenarios, showing a trade-off between the resources used to maximise growth (e.g. ribosome synthesis) and the rest of cellular functions. Limitations in gene expression also play a role in generating phenotypic diversity, which is advantageous in fluctuating environments, at the expenses of decreasing growth rates. Our current understanding of these trade-offs can be exploited for biotechnological applications benefiting from the selective manipulation of the allocation of resources.

Seeing the wood for the trees: a forest of methods for optimization and omic-network integration in metabolic modelling

Metabolic modelling has entered a mature phase with dozens of methods and software implementations available to the practitioner and the theoretician. It is not easy for a modeller to be able to see the wood (or the forest) for the trees. Driven by this analogy, we here present a 'forest' of principal methods used for constraint-based modelling in systems biology. This provides a tree-based view of methods available to prospective modellers, also available in interactive version at http://modellingmetabolism.net, where it will be kept updated with new methods after the publication of the present manuscript. Our updated classification of existing methods and tools highlights the most promising in the different branches, with the aim to develop a vision of how existing methods could hybridize and become more complex. We then provide the first hands-on tutorial for multi-objective optimization of metabolic models in R. We finally discuss the implementation of multi-view machine learning approaches in poly-omic integration. Throughout this work, we demonstrate the optimization of trade-offs between multiple metabolic objectives, with a focus on omic data integration through machine learning. We anticipate that the combination of a survey, a perspective on multi-view machine learning and a step-by-step R tutorial should be of interest for both the beginner and the advanced user.

Automated generation of bacterial resource allocation models

Resource Balance Analysis (RBA) is a computational method based on resource allocation, which performs accurate quantitative predictions of whole-cell states (i.e. growth rate, metabolic fluxes, abundances of molecular machines including enzymes) across growth conditions. We present an integrated workflow of RBA together with the Python package RBApy. RBApy builds bacterial RBA models from annotated genome-scale metabolic models by adding descriptions of cellular processes relevant for growth and maintenance. The package includes functions for model simulation and calibration and for interfacing to Escher maps and Proteomaps for visualization. We demonstrate that RBApy faithfully reproduces results obtained by a hand-curated and experimentally validated RBA model for Bacillus subtilis. We also present a calibrated RBA model of Escherichia coli generated from scratch, which obtained excellent fits to measured flux values and enzyme abundances. RBApy makes whole-cell modelling accessible for a wide range of bacterial wild-type and engineered strains, as illustrated with a CO₂-fixing Escherichia coli strain. AVAILABILITY: RBApy is available at /https://github.com/SysBioInra/RBApy, under the licence GNU GPL version 3, and runs on Linux, Mac and Windows distributions.

A yield-cost tradeoff governs Escherichia coli's decision between fermentation and respiration in carbon-limited growth

Living cells react to changes in growth conditions by re-shaping their proteome. This accounts for different stress-response strategies, both specific (i.e., aimed at increasing the availability of stress-mitigating proteins) and systemic (such as large-scale changes in the use of metabolic pathways aimed at a more efficient exploitation of resources). Proteome re-allocation can, however, imply significant biosynthetic costs. Whether and how such costs impact the growth performance are largely open problems. Focusing on carbon-limited E. coli growth, we integrate genome-scale modeling and proteomic data to address these questions at quantitative level. After deriving a simple formula linking growth rate, carbon intake, and biosynthetic costs, we show that optimal growth results from the tradeoff between yield maximization and protein burden minimization. Empirical data confirm that E. coli growth is indeed close to Pareto-optimal over a broad range of growth rates. Moreover, we establish that, while most of the intaken carbon is diverted into biomass precursors, the efficiency of ATP synthesis is the key driver of the yield-cost tradeoff. These findings provide a quantitative perspective on carbon overflow, the origin of growth laws and the multidimensional optimality of E. coli metabolism.

Quantification of proteomic and metabolic burdens predicts growth retardation and overflow metabolism in recombinant Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli has been the host organism most frequently investigated for efficient recombinant protein production. However, the production of a foreign protein in recombinant E. coli often leads to growth deterioration and elevated secretion of acetic acid. Such observed phenomena have been widely linked with cell stress responses and metabolic burdens originated particularly from the increased energy demand. In this study, flux balance analysis and dynamic flux balance analysis were applied to investigate the observed growth physiology of recombinant E. coli, incorporating the proteome allocation theory and an adjustable maintenance energy level (ATPM) to capture the proteomic and energetic burdens introduced by recombinant protein synthesis. Model predictions of biomass growth, substrate consumption, acetate excretion, and protein production with two different strains were in good agreement with the experimental data, indicating that the constraint on the available proteomic resource and the change in ATPM might be important contributors governing the growth physiology of recombinant strains. The modeling framework developed in this work, currently with several limitations to overcome, offers a starting point for the development of a practical, model-based tool to guide metabolic engineering decisions for boosting recombinant protein production.

Modelling overflow metabolism in Escherichia coli with flux balance analysis incorporating differential proteomic efficiencies of energy pathways

Background

The formation of acetate by fast-growing Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a commonly observed phenomenon, often referred to as overflow metabolism. Among various studies that have been carried over decades, a recent work (Basan, M. et al. Nature528, 99–104, 2015) suggested and validated that it is the differential proteomic efficiencies in energy biogenesis between fermentation and respiration that lead to the production of acetate at rapid growth conditions, as the consequence of optimally allocating the limited proteomic resource. In the current work, we attempt to incorporate this newly developed proteome allocation theory into flux balance analysis (FBA) to capture quantitatively the extent of overflow metabolism in different E. coli strains.

Results

A concise constraint was introduced into a FBA-based model with three proteomic cost parameters to represent constrained allocation of proteome over two energy (respiration and fermentation) pathways and biomass synthesis. Linear relationships were shown to exist between the three proteomic cost parameters. Tests with three different strains revealed that the proteomic cost of fermentation was consistently lower than that of respiration. A slow-growing strain appeared to have a higher proteomic cost for biomass synthesis than fast-growing strains. Different assumed levels of carbon flowing into pentose phosphate pathway affected the absolute value of model parameters, but had no qualitative impact on the comparative proteomic costs. For the prediction of biomass yield, significant errors that occurred for one of the tested strains (ML308) were rectified by adjusting the cellular energy demand according to literature data.

Conclusions

With the aid of a concise proteome allocation constraint, our FBA-based model is able to quantitatively predict the onset and extent of the overflow metabolism in various E. coli strains. Such prediction is enabled by three linearly-correlated (as opposed to uniquely determinable) proteomic cost parameters. The linear relationships between these parameters, when determined using data from cell culturing experiments, render biologically meaningful comparative proteomic costs between fermentation and respiration pathways and between the biomass synthesis sectors of slow- and fast-growing species. Simultaneous prediction of acetate production and biomass yield in the overflow region requires the use of reliable cellular energy demand data.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12918-018-0677-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

DynamicME: dynamic simulation and refinement of integrated models of metabolism and protein expression

BACKGROUND

Genome-scale models of metabolism and macromolecular expression (ME models) enable systems-level computation of proteome allocation coupled to metabolic phenotype.

RESULTS

We develop DynamicME, an algorithm enabling time-course simulation of cell metabolism and protein expression. DynamicME correctly predicted the substrate utilization hierarchy on a mixed carbon substrate medium. We also found good agreement between predicted and measured time-course expression profiles. ME models involve considerably more parameters than metabolic models (M models). We thus generate an ensemble of models (each model having its rate constants perturbed), and then analyze the models by identifying archetypal time-course metabolite concentration profiles. Furthermore, we use a metaheuristic optimization method to calibrate ME model parameters using time-course measurements such as from a (fed-) batch culture. Finally, we show that constraints on protein concentration dynamics ("inertia") alter the metabolic response to environmental fluctuations, including increased substrate-level phosphorylation and lowered oxidative phosphorylation.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, DynamicME provides a novel method for understanding proteome allocation and metabolism under complex and transient environments, and to utilize time-course cell culture data for model-based interpretation or model refinement.

Optimal Allocation of Bacterial Protein Resources under Nonlethal Protein Maturation Stress

Under different environmental stresses, bacteria optimize the allocation of cellular resources through a variety of mechanisms. Recently, researchers have used phenomenological models to quantitatively characterize the allocation of bacterial protein resources under metabolic and translational limitations. Some stresses interfere with protein maturation, thereby enhancing the expression of chaperones and proteases. However, the reallocation of protein resources caused by such environmental stresses has not been modeled quantitatively. Here, we developed a dynamic model of coarse-grained protein resource fluxes based on a self-replicator that includes protein maturation and degradation. Through flux balance analysis, it produces a constrained optimization problem that can be solved analytically. Accordingly, we predicted protein allocation fractions as functions of growth rate under different limitations, which are basically in line with empirical data. We cultured Escherichia coli in media containing different concentrations of chloramphenicol, acetic acid, and paraquat and measured the functional relationship between the expression level of β-galactosidase driven by a constitutive promoter and the bacterial growth rate, respectively. Taking into account the possible mode of stress limitation on the fluxes, our model reproduces this experimentally measured relationship. In addition, our model is in good agreement with the experimental relationship between growth rate and proteome fraction of unnecessary protein in E. coli, considering the unoptimized upregulation of chaperones with useless protein overexpression. The results provide a more systematic view of bacterial stress adaptation that may help in designing for bioengineering or medical interventions.

Ecology and evolution of metabolic cross-feeding interactions in bacteria

Literature covered: early 2000s to late 2017Bacteria frequently exchange metabolites with other micro- and macro-organisms. In these often obligate cross-feeding interactions, primary metabolites such as vitamins, amino acids, nucleotides, or growth factors are exchanged. The widespread distribution of this type of metabolic interactions, however, is at odds with evolutionary theory: why should an organism invest costly resources to benefit other individuals rather than using these metabolites to maximize its own fitness? Recent empirical work has shown that bacterial genotypes can significantly benefit from trading metabolites with other bacteria relative to cells not engaging in such interactions. Here, we will provide a comprehensive overview over the ecological factors and evolutionary mechanisms that have been identified to explain the evolution and maintenance of metabolic mutualisms among microorganisms. Furthermore, we will highlight general principles that underlie the adaptive evolution of interconnected microbial metabolic networks as well as the evolutionary consequences that result for cells living in such communities.

Metabolic engineering of Pichia pastoris

Besides its use for efficient production of recombinant proteins the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris (syn. Komagataella spp.) has been increasingly employed as a platform to produce metabolites of varying origin. We summarize here the impressive methodological developments of the last years to model and analyze the metabolism of P. pastoris, and to engineer its genome and metabolic pathways. Efficient methods to insert, modify or delete genes via homologous recombination and CRISPR/Cas9, supported by modular cloning techniques, have been reported. An outstanding early example of metabolic engineering in P. pastoris was the humanization of protein glycosylation. More recently the cell metabolism was engineered also to enhance the productivity of heterologous proteins. The last few years have seen an increased number of metabolic pathway design and engineering in P. pastoris, mainly towards the production of complex (secondary) metabolites. In this review, we discuss the potential role of P. pastoris as a platform for metabolic engineering, its strengths, and major requirements for future developments of chassis strains based on synthetic biology principles.

Model-based metabolism design: constraints for kinetic and stoichiometric models

The implementation of model-based designs in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology may fail. One of the reasons for this failure is that only a part of the real-world complexity is included in models. Still, some knowledge can be simplified and taken into account in the form of optimization constraints to improve the feasibility of model-based designs of metabolic pathways in organisms. Some constraints (mass balance, energy balance, and steady-state assumption) serve as a basis for many modelling approaches. There are others (total enzyme activity constraint and homeostatic constraint) proposed decades ago, but which are frequently ignored in design development. Several new approaches of cellular analysis have made possible the application of constraints like cell size, surface, and resource balance. Constraints for kinetic and stoichiometric models are grouped according to their applicability preconditions in (1) general constraints, (2) organism-level constraints, and (3) experiment-level constraints. General constraints are universal and are applicable for any system. Organism-level constraints are applicable for biological systems and usually are organism-specific, but these constraints can be applied without information about experimental conditions. To apply experimental-level constraints, peculiarities of the organism and the experimental set-up have to be taken into account to calculate the values of constraints. The limitations of applicability of particular constraints for kinetic and stoichiometric models are addressed.

Cell-free prediction of protein expression costs for growing cells

Translating heterologous proteins places significant burden on host cells, consuming expression resources leading to slower cell growth and productivity. Yet predicting the cost of protein production for any given gene is a major challenge, as multiple processes and factors combine to determine translation efficiency. To enable prediction of the cost of gene expression in bacteria, we describe here a standard cell-free lysate assay that provides a relative measure of resource consumption when a protein coding sequence is expressed. These lysate measurements can then be used with a computational model of translation to predict the in vivo burden placed on growing E. coli cells for a variety of proteins of different functions and lengths. Using this approach, we can predict the burden of expressing multigene operons of different designs and differentiate between the fraction of burden related to gene expression compared to action of a metabolic pathway.

Resource allocation and metabolism: the search for governing principles

Elucidating strategies of resource allocation and metabolism is crucial for a better understanding of microbial phenotypes. In particular, uncovering the governing principles underlying these processes would be a crucial step for achieving a central aim of systems microbiology, which is to quantitatively predict phenotypes of microbial cells or entire populations in diverse conditions. Here, some of the key concepts for understanding cellular resource allocation and metabolism that have been suggested over the past years are reviewed. In particular, recent experimental studies that have shown how phenotypic patterns from orthogonal genetic and environmental perturbations can help to differentiate between competing hypotheses and their respective predictions are discussed. Phenomenological models have proven to be a valuable addition to genome-scale models, capable of making quantitative predictions with only few parameters and having aided the identification of molecular mechanisms.

Competitive resource allocation to metabolic pathways contributes to overflow metabolisms and emergent properties in cross-feeding microbial consortia

Resource scarcity is a common stress in nature and has a major impact on microbial physiology. This review highlights microbial acclimations to resource scarcity, focusing on resource investment strategies for chemoheterotrophs from the molecular level to the pathway level. Competitive resource allocation strategies often lead to a phenotype known as overflow metabolism; the resulting overflow byproducts can stabilize cooperative interactions in microbial communities and can lead to cross-feeding consortia. These consortia can exhibit emergent properties such as enhanced resource usage and biomass productivity. The literature distilled here draws parallels between in silico and laboratory studies and ties them together with ecological theories to better understand microbial stress responses and mutualistic consortia functioning.

Metabolic enzyme cost explains variable trade-offs between microbial growth rate and yield

Microbes may maximize the number of daughter cells per time or per amount of nutrients consumed. These two strategies correspond, respectively, to the use of enzyme-efficient or substrate-efficient metabolic pathways. In reality, fast growth is often associated with wasteful, yield-inefficient metabolism, and a general thermodynamic trade-off between growth rate and biomass yield has been proposed to explain this. We studied growth rate/yield trade-offs by using a novel modeling framework, Enzyme-Flux Cost Minimization (EFCM) and by assuming that the growth rate depends directly on the enzyme investment per rate of biomass production. In a comprehensive mathematical model of core metabolism in E. coli, we screened all elementary flux modes leading to cell synthesis, characterized them by the growth rates and yields they provide, and studied the shape of the resulting rate/yield Pareto front. By varying the model parameters, we found that the rate/yield trade-off is not universal, but depends on metabolic kinetics and environmental conditions. A prominent trade-off emerges under oxygen-limited growth, where yield-inefficient pathways support a 2-to-3 times higher growth rate than yield-efficient pathways. EFCM can be widely used to predict optimal metabolic states and growth rates under varying nutrient levels, perturbations of enzyme parameters, and single or multiple gene knockouts.

The bacterial interlocked process ONtology (BiPON): a systemic multi-scale unified representation of biological processes in prokaryotes

BACKGROUND

High-throughput technologies produce huge amounts of heterogeneous biological data at all cellular levels. Structuring these data together with biological knowledge is a critical issue in biology and requires integrative tools and methods such as bio-ontologies to extract and share valuable information. In parallel, the development of recent whole-cell models using a systemic cell description opened alternatives for data integration. Integrating a systemic cell description within a bio-ontology would help to progress in whole-cell data integration and modeling synergistically.

RESULTS

We present BiPON, an ontology integrating a multi-scale systemic representation of bacterial cellular processes. BiPON consists in of two sub-ontologies, bioBiPON and modelBiPON. bioBiPON organizes the systemic description of biological information while modelBiPON describes the mathematical models (including parameters) associated with biological processes. bioBiPON and modelBiPON are related using bridge rules on classes during automatic reasoning. Biological processes are thus automatically related to mathematical models. 37% of BiPON classes stem from different well-established bio-ontologies, while the others have been manually defined and curated. Currently, BiPON integrates the main processes involved in bacterial gene expression processes.

CONCLUSIONS

BiPON is a proof of concept of the way to combine formally systems biology and bio-ontology. The knowledge formalization is highly flexible and generic. Most of the known cellular processes, new participants or new mathematical models could be inserted in BiPON. Altogether, BiPON opens up promising perspectives for knowledge integration and sharing and can be used by biologists, systems and computational biologists, and the emerging community of whole-cell modeling.