A Gene Ranking Framework Enhances the Design Efficiency of Genome-Scale Constraint-Based Metabolic Networks under Time Limits

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Hauptverfasser: Ma, Yier, Tamura, Takeyuki
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Ma, Yier
Tamura, Takeyuki
author_facet Ma, Yier
Tamura, Takeyuki
contents The design of genome-scale constraint-based metabolic networks has steadily advanced, with an increasing number of successful cases achieving growth-coupled production, in which the biosynthesis of key metabolites is linked to cell growth. However, a major cause of design failures is the inability to find solutions within realistic time limits. Therefore, it is essential to develop methods that achieve a high success rate within the specified computation time. In this study, we propose a framework for ranking the importance of individual genes to accelerate the solution of the original mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problems in the design of constraint-based models. In the proposed method, after pre-assigning values to highly important genes, the MILPs are solved in parallel as a series of mutually exclusive subproblems. It is found that our framework was able to recover most of the successful cases identified by the original approach and achieved a 37% to 186% increase in success rate compared to the original method within the same time limits. Analysis of the MILP solution process revealed that the proposed method reduced the sizes of subproblems and decreased the number of nodes in the branch-and-bound tree. This framework for ranking gene importance can be directly applicable to a range of MILP-based algorithms for the design of constraint-based metabolic networks. The developed scripts are available on \href{https://github.com/MetNetComp/Gene-Ranked-RatGene}{https://github.com/MetNetComp/Gene-Ranked-RatGene}.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_03483
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Gene Ranking Framework Enhances the Design Efficiency of Genome-Scale Constraint-Based Metabolic Networks under Time Limits
Ma, Yier
Tamura, Takeyuki
Molecular Networks
The design of genome-scale constraint-based metabolic networks has steadily advanced, with an increasing number of successful cases achieving growth-coupled production, in which the biosynthesis of key metabolites is linked to cell growth. However, a major cause of design failures is the inability to find solutions within realistic time limits. Therefore, it is essential to develop methods that achieve a high success rate within the specified computation time. In this study, we propose a framework for ranking the importance of individual genes to accelerate the solution of the original mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problems in the design of constraint-based models. In the proposed method, after pre-assigning values to highly important genes, the MILPs are solved in parallel as a series of mutually exclusive subproblems. It is found that our framework was able to recover most of the successful cases identified by the original approach and achieved a 37% to 186% increase in success rate compared to the original method within the same time limits. Analysis of the MILP solution process revealed that the proposed method reduced the sizes of subproblems and decreased the number of nodes in the branch-and-bound tree. This framework for ranking gene importance can be directly applicable to a range of MILP-based algorithms for the design of constraint-based metabolic networks. The developed scripts are available on \href{https://github.com/MetNetComp/Gene-Ranked-RatGene}{https://github.com/MetNetComp/Gene-Ranked-RatGene}.
title A Gene Ranking Framework Enhances the Design Efficiency of Genome-Scale Constraint-Based Metabolic Networks under Time Limits
topic Molecular Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.03483