Líffræðifélag Íslands
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2015

Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster V89

Genome-scale metabolic reconstruction of the thermophilic bacterium Rhodothermus marinus

Þórdís Kristjánsdóttir (1), Steinn Guðmundsson (2), Snædís Björnsdóttir (1), Edda Olgudóttir (1), Birkir Reynisson (1), Ólafur Friðjónsson (1), Sigurður Brynjólfsson (2) og Guðmundur Óli Hreggviðsson (1,2)

1. Matís ohf, 2. Háskóli Íslands

Kynnir / Presenter: Þórdís Kristjánsdóttir

Tengiliður / Corresponding author: Þórdís Kristjánsdóttir (thordis@matis.is)

A genome-scale metabolic model of the thermophilic bacterium Rhodothermus marinus, DSM 4252T has been reconstructed. A genome-scale metabolic model describes the biochemical reactions involved in the metabolism of a given organism, in a structured way, based on the whole genome. Currently, the reconstruction contains 643 reactions, 583 metabolites and 463 genes. Most subsystems are included in the model, such as the central metabolism, different saccharide utilizing pathways, the terpenoid- and carotenoid pathways, the amino acid metabolic pathways and the nucleotide metabolic pathways. The fatty acid and lipid pathways are in progress and few other subsystems are yet to be added. A biomass objective function, describing all the components and their corresponding molar contributions of the overall biomass, has been formulated and is currently being updated in line with new experimental data. R. marinus produces red-colored carotenoids and the biosynthetic pathway was proposed based on literature and gene search. Carotenoids and their precursors can have important industrial applications, for instance in food, medical and cosmetic fields. R. marinus is known to be able to use many different carbon sources to maintain growth, including glucose, galactose, lactose, maltose, raffinose, sucrose, starch, alginate, laminarin, pyruvate and acetate. The model has been used to perform different in silico predictions including growth predictions on different carbon sources and predictions involving carotenoid production.