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. 2018 Jul 2;46(W1):W495-W502.
doi: 10.1093/nar/gky301.

MetExplore: collaborative edition and exploration of metabolic networks

Ludovic Cottret  1 , Clément Frainay  2 , Maxime Chazalviel  2   3 , Floréal Cabanettes  1 , Yoann Gloaguen  4   5   6 , Etienne Camenen  2 , Benjamin Merlet  2 , Stéphanie Heux  7   8   9 , Jean-Charles Portais  7   8   9 , Nathalie Poupin  2 , Florence Vinson  2 , Fabien Jourdan  2
Affiliations

MetExplore: collaborative edition and exploration of metabolic networks

Ludovic Cottret et al. Nucleic Acids Res. .

Abstract

Metabolism of an organism is composed of hundreds to thousands of interconnected biochemical reactions responding to environmental or genetic constraints. This metabolic network provides a rich knowledge to contextualize omics data and to elaborate hypotheses on metabolic modulations. Nevertheless, performing this kind of integrative analysis is challenging for end users with not sufficiently advanced computer skills since it requires the use of various tools and web servers. MetExplore offers an all-in-one online solution composed of interactive tools for metabolic network curation, network exploration and omics data analysis. In particular, it is possible to curate and annotate metabolic networks in a collaborative environment. The network exploration is also facilitated in MetExplore by a system of interactive tables connected to a powerful network visualization module. Finally, the contextualization of metabolic elements in the network and the calculation of over-representation statistics make it possible to interpret any kind of omics data. MetExplore is a sustainable project maintained since 2010 freely available at https://metexplore.toulouse.inra.fr/metexplore2/.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Metabolic network curation steps into MetExplore.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Analysis cycle combining omics data mapping and sub-network extraction from grids and network visualisation.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Comparison between MetExplore and other web servers integrating several metabolic network functionalities. Light gray cells in the BioCyc column correspond to the Pathway Tools feature which is not a web server but was added to the list since it is strongly related to the BioCyc server.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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