

Roche Biochemical Pathways charts – navigable and annotated - mfringel
http://www.roche.com/sustainability/for_communities_and_environment/philanthropy/science_education/pathways.htm

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taltman1
The Roche Biochemical Pathways charts were the inspiration for the MetaCyc
family of pathway/genome databases, all enabled by the Pathway Tools software
(itself written with 400,000+ lines of Common Lisp):

Example pathway: Super-Pathway of glycolysis, pyruvate dehydrogenase, TCA, and
glyoxylate bypass

[http://www.metacyc.org/META/NEW-
IMAGE?type=PATHWAY&object=GL...](http://www.metacyc.org/META/NEW-
IMAGE?type=PATHWAY&object=GLYCOLYSIS-TCA-GLYOX-BYPASS&detail-level=4&detail-
level=3&detail-level=2&detail-level=1)

MetaCyc has an order of magnitude more information integrated into it than
most wall charts. Plus, you can get true interactive metabolic overview maps,
where you can click on the enzymes and compounds (example from the E. coli
database):

[http://www.ecocyc.org/overviewsWeb/celOv.shtml](http://www.ecocyc.org/overviewsWeb/celOv.shtml)
(be sure to zoom in and click on things!)

The Pathway Tools software, and the metabolic networks, are freely available
for academic use, and you can use it to construct your own metabolic networks.

Full disclosure: I'm a former full-time bioinformaticist on the project.

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dekhn
I have been looking for this for years. It used to be from Boeringer Mannheim,
you could jsut write a letter and they would send a copy for free (I was a
biochem major and kept a copy on my wall). After a year of biochem, I could
recognize most the elements and had memorized a significant fraction of the
chart. This chart represent a collection of monumental knowledge and
achievement in biochemistry over the past 100 years.

~~~
dnautics
KEGG is what you're looking for. The Roche charts are beautiful but not really
that great in terms of navigability. KEGG annotates organisms over the 'full
chart' so you can see which pathways are thought to be active in that organism
based on sequencing results. E.G. for humans -

[http://www.kegg.jp/kegg-bin/show_pathway?hsa00360](http://www.kegg.jp/kegg-
bin/show_pathway?hsa00360)

If you need the full pathway map, you can see them e.g.:

[http://www.kegg.jp/kegg-bin/show_pathway?hsa01100](http://www.kegg.jp/kegg-
bin/show_pathway?hsa01100)

~~~
dekhn
No. I mean I've been looking for that poster online, for the nostalgia.

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dnautics
I love the Roche charts, but I also always wanted a more rational organization
to them, perhaps at least regionally organized such that on one axis number of
carbons and on another axis net oxidation state of total carbon.

~~~
dbbolton
One of my professors (in medical school) pointed out that these posters are
great for learning the chemistry, but aren't very useful to us students
because they don't show you what cells/tissues these processes are happening
in.

~~~
taltman1
A problem with these wall charts and the KEGG diagrams is that not only do you
not know which enzymes or pathways are active in which tissues within a single
multi-cellular organism, you don't know which organisms they come from. These
pathway charts are actually mosaic pathways, trying to show a summary of
metabolism across all domains of life. This can be misleading, in that no one
organism contains all parts as displayed.

~~~
dnautics
KEGG filters for organism, although it's automated and not 100% correct.

There's also a lot that's not on either map, like specialized secondary
metabolite synthesis pathways (although kegg has select secondary pathways).

~~~
taltman1
KEGG filters at the MAP or MODULE level, but it merely highlights the enzymes
of the mosaic MAP/MODULE that it inferred is present in the organism, rather
than display the subset of the network that is actually present.

I agree with you regarding their mutual incompleteness. There's plenty more
literature to curate! See my systematic omparison of KEGG and MetaCyc for more
details:

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3665663/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3665663/)

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pelim
just use the contact form and they will send you a real poster for free

[http://lifescience.roche.com/shop/en/us/store/contact-
us?mes...](http://lifescience.roche.com/shop/en/us/store/contact-
us?message=Ordering%20Roche%20Biochemical%20Pathways%20Wall%20Charts%20%28please%20note%20that%20some%20countries%20may%20charge%20shipping%20/%20handling%20fees%29&subject=Product%20Support)

~~~
dbbolton
Apparently, not for medical students. This is what their service rep
responded:

>For life science research only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

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twic
I'm not sure how you'd use them for diagnosis. Maybe to check someone's
eyesight?

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anigbrowl
Wow, 49 years of refinement - there's an intellectual legacy to be proud of. I
know virtually nothing of biochemistry but resources like this are wonderful
for gaining a sense of what there is to learn and how fundamental things
relate to each other. It's rare to see such a comprehensive and beautifully
curated map.

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sowhatquestion
Sure, this chart[1] may look impressive, but trust me, we don't understand
nearly enough about human metabolism to create a product like Soylent. /s

1: [http://biochemical-pathways.com/#/map/1](http://biochemical-
pathways.com/#/map/1)

~~~
serf
The size of a chart, and a quantity of the unknown (the knowledge needed to
safely produce a dietary replacement) is a pretty silly comparison, ignoring
the intended snark.

