A genome-scale metabolic network model and machine learning predict
amino acid concentrations in Chinese Hamster Ovary cell cultures
Abstract
The control of nutrient availability is critical to large-scale
manufacturing of biotherapeutics. However, the quantification of
proteinogenic amino acids is time-consuming and thus is difficult to
implement for real-time in situ bioprocess control. Genome-scale
metabolic models describe the metabolic conversion from media nutrients
to proliferation and recombinant protein production, and therefore are a
promising platform for in silico monitoring and prediction of amino acid
concentrations. This potential has not been realized due to unresolved
challenges: (1) the models assume an optimal and highly efficient
metabolism, and therefore tend to underestimate amino acid consumption,
and (2) the models assume a steady state, and therefore have a short
forecast range. We address these challenges by integrating machine
learning with the metabolic models. Through this we demonstrate accurate
and time-course dependent prediction of individual amino acid
concentration in culture medium throughout the production process. Thus,
these models can be deployed to control nutrient feeding to avoid
premature nutrient depletion or provide early predictions of failed
bioreactor runs.