A general map of iron metabolism and tissue-specific subnetworks.

Journal Article (Journal Article;Review)

Iron is required for survival of mammalian cells. Recently, understanding of iron metabolism and trafficking has increased dramatically, revealing a complex, interacting network largely unknown just a few years ago. This provides an excellent model for systems biology development and analysis. The first step in such an analysis is the construction of a structural network of iron metabolism, which we present here. This network was created using CellDesigner version 3.5.2 and includes reactions occurring in mammalian cells of numerous tissue types. The iron metabolic network contains 151 chemical species and 107 reactions and transport steps. Starting from this general model, we construct iron networks for specific tissues and cells that are fundamental to maintaining body iron homeostasis. We include subnetworks for cells of the intestine and liver, tissues important in iron uptake and storage, respectively, as well as the reticulocyte and macrophage, key cells in iron utilization and recycling. The addition of kinetic information to our structural network will permit the simulation of iron metabolism in different tissues as well as in health and disease.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Hower, V; Mendes, P; Torti, FM; Laubenbacher, R; Akman, S; Shulaev, V; Torti, SV

Published Date

  • May 2009

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 5 / 5

Start / End Page

  • 422 - 443

PubMed ID

  • 19381358

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC2680238

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1742-2051

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1039/b816714c

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • England