from Dany J.V. Beste and Johnjoe McFadden writing in Systems Microbiology: Current Topics and Applications:
Despite decades of research many aspects of the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis remain unclear and this is reflected in the antiquated tools available to treat and prevent tuberculosis. Consequently, this disease remains a serious public health problem responsible for 2 to 3 million deaths each year. Important discoveries linking M. tuberculosis metabolism and pathogenesis have renewed interest in the metabolic underpinning of the interaction between the pathogen and its host. Whereas, previous experimental studies tended to focus on the role of single genes, antigens or enzymes the central paradigm of systems biology is that the role of any gene cannot be determined in isolation from its context. Therefore systems approaches examine the role of genes and proteins embedded within a network of interactions. We here examine the application of this approach to studying metabolism of M. tuberculosis. Recent advances in high throughput experimental technologies, such as functional genomics and metabolomics, provide datasets that can be analysed with computational tools such as flux balance analysis. These new approaches allow metabolism to be studied on a genome scale and have already been applied to gain insights into the metabolic pathways utilized by M. tuberculosis in vitro and identify potential drug targets. The information from these studies will fundamentally change our approach to tuberculosis research and lead to new targets for therapeutic drugs and vaccines.
Further reading: Systems Microbiology Related publications