Analysing Gene Networks with PDP Systems. Arabidopsis thaliana, a Case Study

Abstract

Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) are a useful tool for biologists to understand the interactions among genes in living organisms. A special kind of GRNs known as Logic Networks (LNs) has been recently introduced. These networks consider that the state of one or more genes can in uence another one. In a previous work, we proposed a Membrane Computing model which simulates the dynamics of LNs by drawing on the improved LAPP algorithm. In this paper we provide a case study for our LN model on a network which regulates the circadian rhythms of long{term studied plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We outline the software tools employed and propose a methodology for analysing LNs on our Membrane Computing model. At the end of the paper, some conclusions and future work are included.