title: A network property necessary for concentration robustness.
abstract: Maintenance of functionality of complex cellular networks and entire organisms exposed to environmental perturbations often depends on concentration robustness of the underlying components. Yet, the reasons and consequences of concentration robustness in large-scale cellular networks remain largely unknown. Here, we derive a necessary condition for concentration robustness based only on the structure of networks endowed with mass action kinetics. The structural condition can be used to design targeted experiments to study concentration robustness. We show that metabolites satisfying the necessary condition are present in metabolic networks from diverse species, suggesting prevalence of this property across kingdoms of life. We also demonstrate that our predictions about concentration robustness of energy-related metabolites are in line with experimental evidence from Escherichia coli. The necessary condition is applicable to mass action biological systems of arbitrary size, and will enable understanding the implications of concentration robustness in genetic engineering strategies and medical applications.
authors.affiliation: Systems Biology and Mathematical Modeling Group, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Muehlenber 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Jeanne M O
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Eloundou-Mbebi
authors.affiliation: Systems Biology and Mathematical Modeling Group, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Muehlenber 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Anika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Küken
authors.affiliation: Systems Biology and Mathematical Modeling Group, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Muehlenber 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Nooshin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Omranian
authors.affiliation: Targenomix, Am Muehlenberg 11, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kleessen
authors.affiliation: Targenomix, Am Muehlenberg 11, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Jost
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neigenfind
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Basler
authors.affiliation: Systems Biology and Mathematical Modeling Group, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Muehlenber 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Zoran
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nikoloski
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism*; D007700:Kinetics; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D008954:Models, Biological; D009243:NAD / Q000378:metabolism; D009249:NADP / Q000378:metabolism; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction
chemical_list: D009243:NAD; D009249:NADP; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate