Plant genome-scale metabolic reconstruction and modelling

Genome-scale metabolic reconstructions are used extensively in the study of microbial metabolism and have proven powerful tools to guide rational pathway design of industrial strains. Generation and curation of plant genome-scale metabolic models has proven far more challenging, not the least of which is our incomplete knowledge of compartmentation and organelle transporters in plants. Conversely, the potential value of modelling is far greater when exploring a complex, multi-organelle and multi-tissue metabolism. The first generation of plant genome-scale metabolic reconstructions have proven surprisingly functional and robust as well as capable of predicting many observed complex phenotypes. With further refinement, the application of these models promises to make important contributions to plant biology and metabolic engineering.

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► Recent advances have been made on plant genome-scale metabolic reconstruction.
► Cellular compartmentation makes plant genome-scale reconstruction challenging.
► Current reconstructions capture important features of plant metabolism.
► The models have been used to study isolated tissues and tissue interaction.
► We review the challenges and potential of plant reconstruction and modelling.