Total enzyme activity constraint and homeostatic constraint impact on the optimization potential of a kinetic model

The application of biologically and biochemically relevant constraints during the optimization of kinetic models reduces the impact of suggested changes in processes not included in the scope of the model. This increases the probability that the design suggested by model optimization can be carried out by an organism after implementation of design in vivo.A case study was carried out to determine the impact of total enzyme activity and homeostatic constraints on the objective function values and the following ranking of adjustable parameter combinations. The application of constraints on the model of sugar cane metabolism revealed that a homeostatic constraint caused heavier limitations of the objective function than a total enzyme activity constraint. Both constraints changed the ranking of adjustable parameter combinations: no “universal” constraint-independent top-ranked combinations were found. Therefore, when searching for the best subset of adjustable parameters, a full scan of their combinations is suggested for a small number of adjustable parameters, and evolutionary search strategies are suggested for a large number. Simultaneous application of both constraints is suggested.