Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40072998›Full record

ArticlePLoS computational biology2025

RBC-GEM: A genome-scale metabolic model for systems biology of the human red blood cell.

Zachary B Haiman, Alicia Key, Angelo D'Alessandro, Bernhard O Palsson

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS computational biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. HypomorphicHemaSphere · 2026
    Article
  5. Redox Potential (EMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
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

4 authors.

Zachary B HaimanDepartment of Bioengineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0001-6175-5050
Alicia KeyDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8787-8144
Angelo D'AlessandroDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2258-6490
Bernhard O PalssonDepartment of Bioengineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0003-2357-6785

Funding

The Impact of Oxidative Stress on Erythocyte BiologyR01HL148151 · NHLBI · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI D'ALESSANDRO, ANGELO, KARAFIN, MATTHEW S · 2019 to 2022
$8.9M
The role of ferroptosis in red cell aging in vivo and in vitroR01HL146442 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · PI Angelo D'Alessandro, Adam N. Goldfarb · 2019 to 2026
$5.4M
Interactions between the ADORA2b/Sphk1axis and the AE1-Hb switch in red blood cell aging in vivo and in vitroR01HL149714 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · PI D'ALESSANDRO, ANGELO · 2020 to 2023
$2.6M
NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL146442NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL148151NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL149714
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Advancements with cost-effective, high-throughput omics technologies have had a transformative effect on both fundamental and translational research in the medical sciences. These advancements have facilitated a departure from the traditional view of human red blood cells (RBCs) as mere carriers of hemoglobin, devoid of significant biological complexity. Over the past decade, proteomic analyses have identified a growing number of different proteins present within RBCs, enabling systems biology analysis of their physiological functions. Here, we introduce RBC-GEM, one of the most comprehensive, curated genome-scale metabolic reconstructions of a specific human cell type to-date. It was developed through meta-analysis of proteomic data from 29 studies published over the past two decades resulting in an RBC proteome composed of more than 4,600 distinct proteins. Through workflow-guided manual curation, we have compiled the metabolic reactions carried out by this proteome to form a genome-scale metabolic model (GEM) of the RBC. RBC-GEM is hosted on a version-controlled GitHub repository, ensuring adherence to the standardized protocols for metabolic reconstruction quality control and data stewardship principles. RBC-GEM represents a metabolic network is a consisting of 820 genes encoding proteins acting on 1,685 unique metabolites through 2,723 biochemical reactions: a 740% size expansion over its predecessor. We demonstrated the utility of RBC-GEM by creating context-specific proteome-constrained models derived from proteomic data of stored RBCs for 616 blood donors, and classified reactions based on their simulated abundance dependence. This reconstruction as an up-to-date curated GEM can be used for contextualization of data and for the construction of a computational whole-cell models of the human RBC.

Indexed as

ErythrocytesModels, BiologicalSystems BiologyGenome, HumanHumansMetabolic Networks and PathwaysProteomeProteomicsProteome

Identifiers

PMID40072998
PMCPMC11925312

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.