Editing Metabolic engineering (section)

===Determining the optimal genetic manipulations===
After solving for the fluxes of reactions in the network, it is necessary to determine which reactions may be altered in order to maximize the yield of the desired product. To determine what specific genetic manipulations to perform, it is necessary to use computational algorithms, such as OptGene or OptFlux.<ref>Rocha, I., Maia, P., Evangelista, P., et al. (2010). "OptFlux: an open-source software platform for in silico metabolic engineering". BMC Sys Biol. 45(4)</ref> They provide recommendations for which genes should be overexpressed, knocked out, or introduced in a cell to allow increased production of the desired product. For example, if a given reaction has particularly low flux and is limiting the amount of product, the software may recommend that the enzyme catalyzing this reaction should be overexpressed in the cell to increase the reaction flux. The necessary genetic manipulations can be performed using standard molecular biology techniques. Genes may be overexpressed or knocked out from an organism, depending on their effect on the pathway and the ultimate goal.<ref>Work, T.S., Hinton, R., Work, E., Dobrota, M., Chard, T. (1980). "Laboratory Techniques in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology". v.8</ref>