QUALITATIVE-ANALYSIS OF BIOCHEMICAL REACTION SYSTEMS

The qualitative analysis of biochemical reaction systems is presented. A discrete event systems approach is used to represent and analyze bi oreaction pathways. The approach is based on Petri nets, which are par ticularly suited to modeling stoichiometric transformations, i.e. the inter-conversion of metabolites in fixed proportions. The properties a nd methods for the analysis of Petri nets, along with their interpreta tion for biochemical systems, are presented. As an example, the combin ed glycolytic and pentose phosphate pathway of the erythrocyte cell is presented to illustrate the concepts of the methodology.