Accurate Metabolic Flux Analysis through Data Reconciliation of Isotope Balance-Based Data

Various techniques and strategies have been developed for the identification of intracellular metabolic conditions, and among them, isotope balance-based flux analysis with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/ MS) has recently become popular. Even though isotope balance-based flux analysis allows a more accurate estimation of intracellular fluxes, its application has been restricted to relatively small metabolic systems because of the limited number of measurable metabolites. In this paper, a strategy for incorporating isotope balance-based flux data obtained for a small network into metabolic flux analysis was examined as a feasible alternative allowing more accurate quantification of intracellular flux distribution in a large metabolic system. To impose GC/MS based data into a large metabolic network and obtain optimum flux distribution profile, data reconciliation procedure was applied. As a result, metabolic flux values of 308 intracellular reactions could be estimated from 29 GC/ MS based fluxes with higher accuracy.