The stoichiometry of metabolic pathways in the dynamics of cellular populations

The problem has been considered, to what extent the kinetic models of cellular metabolism fit the matter which they describe. Foundations of stoichiometry of the whole metabolism and its large regions have been stated. A bioenergetic representation of stoichiometry based on a universal unit of chemical compound reductivity, viz., redoxon, has been described. Equations of mass-energy balance (bioenergetic variant of stoichiometry) have been derived for metabolic flows including those of protons possessing high electrochemical potential H+, and high-energy compounds. Interrelations have been obtained which determine the biomass yield, rate of uptake of energy source for cell growth and other important physiological quantities as functions of biochemical characteristics of cellular energetics. The maximum biomass energy yield values have been calculated for different energy sources utilized by cells. These values coincide with those measured experimentally.