Interpretation of bioinformatics data in terms of cellular function is a major challenge facing systems biology. This question is complicated by robust metabolic networks filled with structural features like parallel pathways and isozymes. Under conditions of nutrient sufficiency, metabolic networks are well known to be regulated for thermodynamic efficiency however, efficient biochemical pathways are anabolically expensive to construct. While parameters like thermodynamic efficiency have been extensively studied, a systems-based analysis of anabolic proteome synthesis costs and the cellular function implications of these costs has not been reported.