Method
FOCAL: an experimental design tool for systematizing metabolic discoveries and model development
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, WI 53706, USA
Genome Biology 2012, 13:R116 doi:10.1186/gb-2012-13-12-r116
Published: 13 December 2012Abstract
Current computational tools can generate and improve genome-scale models based on existing data; however, for many organisms, the data needed to test and refine such models are not available. To facilitate model development, we created the forced coupling algorithm, FOCAL, to identify genetic and environmental conditions such that a reaction becomes essential for an experimentally measurable phenotype. This reaction's conditional essentiality can then be tested experimentally to evaluate whether network connections occur or to create strains with desirable phenotypes. FOCAL allows network connections to be queried, which improves our understanding of metabolism and accuracy of developed models.
