Cybernetic modeling of biological processes in mammalian systems

Regulation of metabolism in mammalian cells is achieved through a complex interplay between cellular signaling, metabolic reactions, and transcriptional changes. The modeling of metabolic fluxes in a cell requires the knowledge of all these mechanisms, some of which may be unknown. A cybernetic approach provides a framework to model these complex interactions through implicit accounting of such regulatory mechanisms, assuming a biological ‘goal’. The premise underlying the cybernetic framework is that the regulatory processes affecting metabolism can be mathematically formulated as a cybernetic objective through variables that constrain the metabolic reaction network to achieve a specified biological ‘goal’. Here, we highlight the utility of the cybernetic framework in modeling of prostaglandin metabolism in murine macrophage cells during inflammation. We present a perspective for future use of the cybernetic framework for modeling complex cellular processes using multiple objectives, which can represent distinct subprocesses within the metabolic reaction network.