Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 14, 2025

11:07
High-Throughput Metabolic Profiling for Model Refinements of Microalgae
Published on: December 4, 2021
4.0K
ORT: a workflow linking genome-scale metabolic models with reactive transport codes.
Rebecca L Rubinstein1, Mikayla A Borton2, Haiyan Zhou1
1Subsurface Insights, LLC, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)
|November 2, 2021
Summary
A new workflow integrates microbial
Area of Science:
- * Subsurface hydrology and biogeochemistry.
- * Environmental microbiology and microbial ecology.
- * Computational modeling and systems biology.
Background:
- * Subsurface nutrient and contaminant transport is governed by complex hydrobiogeochemical processes across various scales.
- * Microbial activities significantly influence these processes, affecting mineral precipitation/dissolution and aqueous geochemistry.
- * The increasing availability of 'omics data necessitates efficient methods for integrating microbial insights into ecosystem models.
Purpose of the Study:
- * To introduce a novel workflow, 'Omics to Reactive Transport (ORT), for integrating metagenomic data into macroscopic reactive transport models.
- * To demonstrate the coupling of KBase, a systems biology platform, with PFLOTRAN, a reactive transport model.
- * To enhance the predictive accuracy of subsurface ecosystem models by incorporating microbial process data.
Main Methods:
- * Development of the ORT workflow connecting KBase and PFLOTRAN.
- * Utilizing metagenomic and geochemical data from a river system for model input.
- * Implementing microbial drivers for nitrification and denitrification within the reactive transport model.
Main Results:
- * Successful demonstration of the ORT workflow using real-world environmental data.
- * Accurate prediction of nitrogen cycling patterns based on microbial processes.
- * The workflow shows potential for application to spatiotemporal metagenomic datasets for iterative model refinement.
Conclusions:
- * The ORT workflow provides an effective method for incorporating microbial 'omics data into reactive transport models.
- * This approach improves the understanding and prediction of subsurface biogeochemical processes.
- * ORT facilitates the integration of microbial ecology and reactive transport modeling for enhanced environmental predictions.
Related Concept Videos
Coupled Reactions
9.0K
Cellular processes such as building and breaking down complex molecules occur through stepwise chemical reactions. Some of these chemical reactions are spontaneous and release energy, whereas others require energy to proceed. Cells often couple the energy-releasing reaction with the energy-requiring one to carry out important cell functions.
Energy in adenosine triphosphate or ATP molecules is easily accessible to do work. ATP powers the majority of energy-requiring cellular reactions....
Energy in adenosine triphosphate or ATP molecules is easily accessible to do work. ATP powers the majority of energy-requiring cellular reactions....
9.0K
Metabolism of Chemolithotrophs
309
Chemolithotrophs are microorganisms that obtain energy by oxidizing inorganic molecules such as hydrogen gas (H₂), ammonia (NH₃), reduced sulfur compounds (H₂S, S²⁻), and ferrous iron (Fe²⁺). Unlike heterotrophic organisms that rely on organic carbon, chemolithotrophs transfer electrons from these inorganic donors to the electron transport chain (ETC), generating a proton motive force (PMF) that drives ATP synthesis through oxidative phosphorylation.
309
Primary Active Transport
11.8K
In contrast to passive transport, active transport involves a substance being moved through membranes in a direction against its concentration or electrochemical gradient. There are two types of active transport: primary active transport and secondary active transport. Primary active transport utilizes chemical energy from ATP to drive protein pumps embedded in the cell membrane. With energy from ATP, the pumps transport ions against their electrochemical gradients—a direction they would...
11.8K
The Significance of Membrane Transport
33.6K
The transport of solutes across the cell membrane is essential for metabolic processes, like maintaining cell size and volume, generating the action potential, exchanging nutrients and gases, etc. Membrane transport can be either passive or active. It can be simple diffusion, facilitated, or mediated transport aided by transport proteins such as transporters and channels.
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...
33.6K
Multi-Step Reactions
7.7K
Chemical reactions often occur in a stepwise fashion involving two or more distinct reactions taking place in a sequence. A balanced equation indicates the reacting species and the product species, but it reveals no details about how the reaction occurs at the molecular level. The reaction mechanism (or reaction path) provides details regarding the precise, step-by-step process by which a reaction occurs. Each of the steps in a reaction mechanism is called an elementary reaction. These...
7.7K
Mechanistic Models: Overview of Compartment Models
198
Mechanistic models, a category encompassing both physiological and compartmental modeling, differ from empirical models' approaches to incorporating known factors about the systems being modeled. Empirical models describe data with minimal assumptions, while mechanistic models aim to provide a robust description of available data by specifying assumptions and integrating known factors about the system. Compartmental analysis is a key example of a mechanistic model in pharmacokinetics and...
198

