Math Helps to Map Metabolism of Iron

May 7, 2009

Researchers claim to have taken the initial steps towards modeling chemical and biological reactions central to understanding iron deficiency. Their mathematical mapping has already enabled them to construct structural networks of cells critical to iron metabolism in people. It may lead to a finer understanding of the interactions between iron-dependent species, identification of key regulatory points, and simulations of responses to stimuli.

Seven researchers—Valerie Hower, Pedro Mendes, Frank M. Torti, Reinhard Laubenbacher, Steven Akman, Vladimir Shulaev, and Suzy V. Torti—collaborated on the study, titled "A General Map of Iron Metabolism and Tissue-Specific Subnetworks," which appears in the May Molecular BioSystems.

Shulaev (Virginia Tech) called the effort a "good example of a project that benefits from a transdisciplinary approach to the study of molecular biosystems," which resulted from a team of researchers with expertise in mathematics, biology, biochemical modeling, and metabolism.

Mathematician Laubenbacher (Virginia Tech) observed, "We hope to use the iron metabolic networks as a starting point to identify changes that take place in healthy and diseased tissues. The addition of kinetic information to our structural network should permit the simulation of iron metabolism in different tissues as well as under conditions of health and disease. This should provide us with a much needed tool to look at the impact of such changes on the systems level network."

Iron is essential for human survival; it can also facilitate the formation of oxygen free radicals, which can be damaging. "Because of this dual nature of iron, it is very carefully regulated at both the level of the cell and the entire body," collaborator Suzy Torti (Wake Forest University) said. "In this study, we have taken the first steps in organizing the complex regulatory networks that control iron into a mathematical model. Over the long term, we hope this will enable a more precise understanding of how iron is controlled and how it can be manipulated for therapeutic benefit."

Source: Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, April 22, 2009.