Frontiers in Microbiology (Feb 2018)

Simulation Modeling to Compare High-Throughput, Low-Iteration Optimization Strategies for Metabolic Engineering

  • Stephen C. Heinsch,
  • Stephen C. Heinsch,
  • Siba R. Das,
  • Michael J. Smanski,
  • Michael J. Smanski,
  • Michael J. Smanski

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.00313
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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Increasing the final titer of a multi-gene metabolic pathway can be viewed as a multivariate optimization problem. While numerous multivariate optimization algorithms exist, few are specifically designed to accommodate the constraints posed by genetic engineering workflows. We present a strategy for optimizing expression levels across an arbitrary number of genes that requires few design-build-test iterations. We compare the performance of several optimization algorithms on a series of simulated expression landscapes. We show that optimal experimental design parameters depend on the degree of landscape ruggedness. This work provides a theoretical framework for designing and executing numerical optimization on multi-gene systems.

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