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Fluxomics

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A Systems Biology Approach to Study Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

Metabolic processes are dynamic, finely regulated and interconnected. In order to characterize metabolic networks and their functional operation, quantitative knowledge of intracellular fluxes is required. Whereas metabolite concentrations can be directly estimated, the set of molecular fluxes through each reaction within a metabolic network can only be estimated indirectly. Isotope labelling experiments with 13C-labelled tracers, using nuclear magnetic resonance or mass spectrometry, are emerging as powerful strategies used to measure fluxes in complex interconnected metabolic networks. In this chapter, we review these methods together with the computational resources for flux analysis. Current challenges and limitations in fluxomics applied to Metabolic Syndrome are discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a more general definition of isotopologue and isotopomer we refer the reader to (IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology—the Gold Book 2011)

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme FP7 (Etherpaths KBBE-grant n°222639); the Spanish Government and the European Union FEDER funds (SAF2011-25726); ISCIII-RTICC & European Regional Development Fund (RD06/0020/0046); Generalitat de Catalunya (2009SGR1308 and ICREA Academia price to MC). AB was granted by CSIC (Programa JAE Predoc).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Av Diagonal 643, Edifici Nou, planta -2, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Marta Cascante, Adrián Benito, Igor Marín de Mas, Josep J. Centelles, Anibal Miranda & Pedro de Atauri

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  1. Marta Cascante
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  2. Adrián Benito
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  3. Igor Marín de Mas
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  4. Josep J. Centelles
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  5. Anibal Miranda
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  6. Pedro de Atauri
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Correspondence to Marta Cascante .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo, Finland

    Matej Orešič

  2. Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Antonio Vidal-Puig

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Cascante, M., Benito, A., Marín de Mas, I., Centelles, J., Miranda, A., Atauri, P. (2014). Fluxomics. In: Orešič, M., Vidal-Puig, A. (eds) A Systems Biology Approach to Study Metabolic Syndrome. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01008-3_12

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