Pangenome reconstruction ofLactobacillaceaemetabolism predicts species-specific metabolic traits

Abstract

AbstractStrains across theLactobacillaceaefamily form the basis for a trillion-dollar industry. Our understanding of the genomic basis for their key traits is fragmented, however, including the metabolism that is foundational to their industrial uses. Pangenome analysis of publicly availableLactobacillaceaegenomes allowed us to generate genome-scale metabolic network reconstructions for 26 species of industrial importance. Their manual curation led to more than 75,000 gene-protein-reaction associations that were deployed to generate 2,446 genome-scale metabolic models. Cross-referencing genomes and known metabolic traits allowed for manual metabolic network curation and validation of the metabolic models. As a result, we provide the first pangenomic basis for metabolism in theLactobacillaceaefamily and a collection of predictive computational metabolic models that enable a variety of practical uses.