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.