Reconstructing genome-scale metabolic models with Merlin

The reconstruction of genome-scale metabolic models is based on the well-known stoichiometry of biochemical reactions. Usually the main objective of a reconstruction is the in silico simulation of the phenotypic behaviour of a microorganism, under different environmental and genetic conditions, thus representing an important tool in Metabolic Engineering. The genome of the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis was used as a case study for this method, providing information for the first stage of the reconstruction of this eukaryote. Given and input of 5085 gene sequences, Merlin identified more than 4200 distinct organisms and approximately 394.000 genes with sequence similarities to the K. lactis genome. This information, after user appraisal, will be used to assemble a metabolic model with the reactions catalysed by the enzymes encoded in the genome. Such model, in the SBML format, can be used as a first raw approach to the study of the K. lactis metabolism