A Formal Path Inference of Starch Biosynthesis via Mathematical Modelling of Metabolic Changes in Excess CO2

摘要

Great demand for plant starch has made starch biosynthesis one of the most studied pathways in the literature. Many attempts have been made to improve the yield and properties of starch, including research on CO2 elevation as a means of increasing production; however, the analyses often faced difficulty in transiently and simultaneously measuring the metabolites of interest. Our work aimed to break-through such restrictions by systematically investigating the changes in metabolism of starch throughout the pathway-from source to sink cells-with the aid of mathematical modelling. Monitoring changes in metabolite concentrations and flux distributions allowed us to propose a formal metabolic path (i.e. a preferential pathway in charge of a particular event) responsible for starch yield variation under excess carbon-substrate. Our findings not only supported many established hypotheses on the regulations of starch production, but also gave reasonable predictions of metabolic regulation of starch biosynthesis.