A BRIEF SURVEY OF MAJOR DISCOVERIES THAT IMPACT ON EUKARYOTIC CELLULAR PATHWAY MODELLING

Abstract

An important target of molecular biology is the detailed comprehension of the dynamics of the reaction pathways regulating all cellular activities. The simulation of the biochemical reactions inside prokaryotic cells already entails great difficulties, but in eukaryotic cells, where the networks are more complex and only partially known, much greater difficulties arise. In order to infer a global behaviour from the kinetics of single reactions, a simple way to model a metabolic pathway follows the classical Michaelis-Menten approach, based on the mass action law applied to each enzymatic reaction. If, However, instead of assuming the enzymes as constant factors, appropriate attention is paid to the manifold of intermingled processes tuning the enzymes production and activity level, starting from the very regulation of genome expression, our global understanding of cellular behaviour can be substantially improved in many cases. In this paper, among other things, we will focus on some recent researches valuable for designing upgraded models of the macromolecular crowding within cells, the promiscuity of kinases and the proteome expansion. Emphasis will be given to the schematic representation of the discussed mechanisms, providing bibliographic references for details. This should convey the essential information in a more direct and faster way, and allow grasping the message even by non experts in the field