Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31500573›Full record

ArticleBMC bioinformatics2019

RetSynth: determining all optimal and sub-optimal synthetic pathways that facilitate synthesis of target compounds in chassis organisms.

Leanne S Whitmore, Bernard Nguyen, Ali Pinar, Anthe George, Corey M Hudson

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC bioinformatics, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 33% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Leanne S WhitmoreSandia National Laboratories, East Avenue, Livermore, 94550, USA.
Bernard NguyenSandia National Laboratories, East Avenue, Livermore, 94550, USA.
Ali PinarSandia National Laboratories, East Avenue, Livermore, 94550, USA.
Anthe GeorgeSandia National Laboratories, East Avenue, Livermore, 94550, USA.
Corey M HudsonSandia National Laboratories, East Avenue, Livermore, 94550, USA. cmhudso@sandia.gov.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4796-538X
Sandia National Laboratories California · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe efficient biological production of industrially and economically important compounds is a challenging problem. Brute-force determination of the optimal pathways to efficient production of a target chemical in a chassis organism is computationally intractable. Many current methods provide a single solution to this problem, but fail to provide all optimal pathways, optional sub-optimal solutions or hybrid biological/non-biological solutions.

resultsHere we present RetSynth, software with a novel algorithm for determining all optimal biological pathways given a starting biological chassis and target chemical. By dynamically selecting constraints, the number of potential pathways scales by the number of fully independent pathways and not by the number of overall reactions or size of the metabolic network. This feature allows all optimal pathways to be determined for a large number of chemicals and for a large corpus of potential chassis organisms. Additionally, this software contains other features including the ability to collect data from metabolic repositories, perform flux balance analysis, and to view optimal pathways identified by our algorithm using a built-in visualization module. This software also identifies sub-optimal pathways and allows incorporation of non-biological chemical reactions, which may be performed after metabolic production of precursor molecules.

conclusionsThe novel algorithm designed for RetSynth streamlines an arduous and complex process in metabolic engineering. Our stand-alone software allows the identification of candidate optimal and additional sub-optimal pathways, and provides the user with necessary ranking criteria such as target yield to decide which route to select for target production. Furthermore, the ability to incorporate non-biological reactions into the final steps allows determination of pathways to production for targets that cannot be solely produced biologically. With this comprehensive suite of features RetSynth exceeds any open-source software or webservice currently available for identifying optimal pathways for target production.

Indexed as

Metabolic Networks and PathwaysSoftwareAlgorithmsBenzeneEscherichia coliMetabolic EngineeringUser-Computer InterfaceBenzeneFlux balance analysisMetabolic engineeringMixed integer linear programming

Identifiers

PMID31500573
PMCPMC6734243
OpenAlexW2973114580

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.