Were doing in vivo tests of predictions made by the metabolic model. The majority of essential gene experiments in the literature involve single gen knock outs. However, our model has a unique ability to predict what combinations of gene deletions will be lethal. Indeed, to determine the minimal genome, one simply asks how many genes can I delete at the same time without resulting in lethality.

To test the validity of the model, we used the model to predict pairs of genes that are lethal when both knocjed out, but allow Ecoli survival when only one at a time are knocked out. These would be genes essential in our list but not essential in most of the literature.

Construct of these double knockout Ecoli strains is currently underway.