Plant Metabolic Networks

Book excerpt: Plants are the basis for human nutrition and of increasing interest for the chemical industry as a source of chemical feed stocks. Fuels derived from plant biomass will increasingly replace fossil fuels in the future. In order to increase crop productivity, design new plant products, and create new energy crops, there is need for methods of qualitative and quantitative analysis of metabolism which are able to guide the rational re-design of metabolic networks. In this book, recent advances in qualitative and quantitative analysis of metabolism are summarized to give an overview of the current state of knowledge. Principles of the analysis of network structure, flux analysis, and kinetic modeling are described. Analytical methods necessary to produce the data needed for metabolic flux analysis and for kinetic modeling are described. The analysis of larger metabolic networks is only possible by using computer assistance. Therefore each chapter of the book shall also describe software available for this purpose.