[en] constraint-based modeling ; flux balance analysi s ; thermodynamics ; convex optimization ; entropy function
[en] We derive a convex optimization problem on a steady-state no nequilibrium network of
biochemical reactions, with the property that energy conservation and the second law of thermodynamics both hold at the problem solution. This suggests a new variational principle for biochemical networks that can be implemented in a computationally tractable manner. We derive the Lagrange dual of the optimization problem and use strong duality to demonstrate that a biochemical analogue of Tellegen’s theorem holds at optimality. Each optimal flux is dependent on a free parameter that we relate to an elementary kinetic parameter when mass action kinetics is assumed.
[University of Luxembourg > Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) >]
