Morphisms of reaction networks that couple structure to function

Area of Science:

• Systems biology
• Computational biology
• Network theory

Background:

• Biological systems are often modeled as networks to understand their mechanisms.
• While network kinetics and structure-behavior relationships are studied, structural relationships better reveal mechanistic similarity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define network morphisms (mappings) that establish structural connections between reaction networks.
• To determine if these structural connections can predict kinetic similarity statically.
• To relate the kinetics of complex biological networks to simpler ones and population algorithms.

Main Methods:

• Definition of network morphisms between reaction networks.
• Static analysis of network structures to identify emulating relationships.
• Application of morphisms to compare kinetics of diverse biological networks.

Main Results:

• Network morphisms establish structural connections, some implying kinetic similarity.
• Complex networks can be shown to emulate simpler networks' kinetics statically.
• This approach relates various biological networks and a population algorithm.

Conclusions:

• Network morphisms are a powerful tool for revealing structural similarity in reaction networks.
• Structural similarity elucidates mechanistic and functional aspects by relating complex networks to simpler ones.