A Modelica-based Systems Biology approach to engineer the cell’s decision between growth, storage, and secondary metabolites (MoSysBI)

Systembiologie, Modellierung, Simulation, Petri-Netze, Xanthomonas campestris

Fachhochschule Bielefeld
Fachbereich Ingenieurwissenschaften und Mathematik
Interaktion 1
33619 Bielefeld


Projektleitung

Prof. Dr. Karsten Niehaus, Universität Bielefeld,
Tel.: 0521/106-5631

karsten.niehaus@genetik.uni-bielefeld.de

Projektbeteiligung
Kooperationsprojekt zwischen dem Centrum für Biotechnologie (CeBiTec) der Universität Bielefeld und dem Studiengang Mathematik der Fachhochschule Bielefeld

Kurzbeschreibung
Cells utilize substrate molecules from the environment to grow and generate energy as new biomass. This project addresses the fundamental question of the cell´s decision making between growth, storage and the export of secondary metabolites. This is of remarkable relevance for Systems Biology and biotechnology: to which extend can central metabolites be re-directed to produce high-value compounds, in this case nucleotide sugars. Our project aims at setting up a Systems Biology approach to model how metabolic resources are allocated to the competing metabolic routes. A Modelica based simulation environment will be developed to cover the relevant biological processes. Modelica is an equation based modeling language accepted as industrial standard in technical engineering and capable to represent hybrid dynamical complex systems. The metabolic model will be iteratively refined by wet-lab experiments. All post-genomics disciplines, as transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and fluxomics and have been already well-established by the project partners. The project will focus on Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris, a Gram-neg. bacterium well established in industrial biotechnology.