@article {430, title = {In situ to in silico and back: elucidating the physiology and ecology of Geobacter spp. using genome-scale modelling.}, journal = {Nat Rev Microbiol}, volume = {9}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Jan}, pages = {39-50}, abstract = {There is a wide diversity of unexplored metabolism encoded in the genomes of microorganisms that have an important environmental role. Genome-scale metabolic modelling enables the individual reactions that are encoded in annotated genomes to be organized into a coherent whole, which can then be used to predict metabolic fluxes that will optimize cell function under a range of conditions. In this Review, we summarize a series of studies in which genome-scale metabolic modelling of Geobacter spp. has resulted in an in-depth understanding of their central metabolism and ecology. A similar iterative modelling and experimental approach could accelerate elucidation of the physiology and ecology of other microorganisms inhabiting a diversity of environments, and could guide optimization of the practical applications of these species.}, keywords = {Computer Simulation, Environment, Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial, Genome, Bacterial, Geobacter, Models, Biological}, issn = {1740-1534}, doi = {10.1038/nrmicro2456}, author = {Mahadevan, Radhakrishnan and Palsson, Bernhard {\O} and Lovley, Derek R} }