Metabolic Needs and Capabilities of Toxoplasma gondii through Combined Computational and Experimental Analysis.

ABSTRACT: Toxoplasma gondii is a human pathogen prevalent worldwide that poses a challenging and unmet need for novel treatment of toxoplasmosis. Using a semi-automated reconstruction algorithm, we reconstructed a genome-scale metabolic model, ToxoNet1. The reconstruction process and flux-balance analysis of the model offer a systematic overview of the metabolic capabilities of this parasite. Using ToxoNet1 we have identified significant gaps in the current knowledge of Toxoplasma metabolic pathways and have clarified its minimal nutritional requirements for replication. By probing the model via metabolic tasks, we have further defined sets of alternative precursors necessary for parasite growth. Within a human host cell environment, ToxoNet1 predicts a minimal set of 53 enzyme-coding genes and 76 r

SUBMITTER: Tymoshenko S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4441489 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature