Structure-chemical approach to organization of information on metabolic charts.
A nontraditional approach to construction of metabolic charts is proposed. It is based on the discovery of symmetry in the structure of the network of metabolic reactions. So if compounds and reactions are located on the metabolic chart according to their chemical features, the chart structure will acquire a periodic pattern. The charts thus created have a natural two-dimensional coordinate system of the metabolic network. Points on the X-axis correspond to number of carbon atoms in the carbon skeleton of compounds in columns and points on the Y-axis correspond to number of -COOH groups in compounds filing in series of rows on the charts. As a result this coordinate system sections the field of the charts into rectangular blocks each of which containing compounds with the same numbers of carbon atoms and the same numbers of -COOH groups. The latter substantially improves the charts and makes them a more valid source of metabolic data possessing heuristic properties. The periodicity of the metabolic network structure enables us easily to remember information about biochemical reactions and their products. The charts can also be used as a universal key for any biological database information that is systematically connected with the metabolic information. The charts can be important for medicine and pharmacology because they can help to understand the metabolic processes involved in decomposition of a particular drug or to find the chain of reactions blocked or initiated by administering this drug into a living organism.
Malygin
A G
AG
Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119071, Russia. agmalygin@mail.ru
D000143:Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D000465:Algorithms; D001671:Biochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D008660:Metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism
D000143:Acids; D009584:Nitrogen