Authors
Nazem-Bokaee, H.
Abstract
Human genetic variation is a major determinant of organ metabolism, yet how naturally occurring variants shape quantitative metabolic phenotypes remains unclear. We present VariantFlux, a workflow that integrates ancestry-aware variant interpretation into genome-scale metabolic modelling to generate personalised, variant-constrained kidney reconstructions. Using the Human1 v1.19 model, we built a kidney-specific baseline model constrained by 482 metabolites and analysed 2,547 individuals from the 1000 Genomes Project, in whom ~50% of metabolic genes were predicted damaging by at least three computational tools. These variants, whose burden diRered subtly across ancestries, were translated into gene-dosage-anchored flux constraints for homozygous knockouts and graded heterozygous knockdowns. Despite widespread perturbation, >97% of models preserved baseline growth, indicating strong metabolic robustness. Yet individual genomes exhibited distinct flux-rewiring patterns, with frequent individual-specific gain-of-flux events and fewer shared loss-of-flux reactions. Limited ancestry clustering suggests metabolic responses are driven mainly by unique variant combinations. VariantFlux links human genomes to organ-level flux phenotypes, enabling precision medicine, pharmacogenomics, and disease risk prediction.
Preprint server:
bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 10 Aug 2026.
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