Boolean nested canalizing functions: a comprehensive analysis

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Li, Yuan, Adeyeye, John O., Murrugarra, David, Aguilar, Boris, Laubenbacher, Reinhard
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2012
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866910516253818880
author Li, Yuan
Adeyeye, John O.
Murrugarra, David
Aguilar, Boris
Laubenbacher, Reinhard
author_facet Li, Yuan
Adeyeye, John O.
Murrugarra, David
Aguilar, Boris
Laubenbacher, Reinhard
contents Boolean network models of molecular regulatory networks have been used successfully in computational systems biology. The Boolean functions that appear in published models tend to have special properties, in particular the property of being nested canalizing, a concept inspired by the concept of canalization in evolutionary biology. It has been shown that networks comprised of nested canalizing functions have dynamic properties that make them suitable for modeling molecular regulatory networks, namely a small number of (large) attractors, as well as relatively short limit cycles. This paper contains a detailed analysis of this class of functions, based on a novel normal form as polynomial functions over the Boolean field. The concept of layer is introduced that stratifies variables into different classes depending on their level of dominance. Using this layer concept a closed form formula is derived for the number of nested canalizing functions with a given number of variables. Additional metrics considered include Hamming weight, the activity number of any variable, and the average sensitivity of the function. It is also shown that the average sensitivity of any nested canalizing function is between 0 and 2. This provides a rationale for why nested canalizing functions are stable, since a random Boolean function in n variables has average sensitivity n/2. The paper also contains experimental evidence that the layer number is an important factor in network stability.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_1204_5203
institution arXiv
publishDate 2012
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Boolean nested canalizing functions: a comprehensive analysis
Li, Yuan
Adeyeye, John O.
Murrugarra, David
Aguilar, Boris
Laubenbacher, Reinhard
Dynamical Systems
Molecular Networks
Boolean network models of molecular regulatory networks have been used successfully in computational systems biology. The Boolean functions that appear in published models tend to have special properties, in particular the property of being nested canalizing, a concept inspired by the concept of canalization in evolutionary biology. It has been shown that networks comprised of nested canalizing functions have dynamic properties that make them suitable for modeling molecular regulatory networks, namely a small number of (large) attractors, as well as relatively short limit cycles. This paper contains a detailed analysis of this class of functions, based on a novel normal form as polynomial functions over the Boolean field. The concept of layer is introduced that stratifies variables into different classes depending on their level of dominance. Using this layer concept a closed form formula is derived for the number of nested canalizing functions with a given number of variables. Additional metrics considered include Hamming weight, the activity number of any variable, and the average sensitivity of the function. It is also shown that the average sensitivity of any nested canalizing function is between 0 and 2. This provides a rationale for why nested canalizing functions are stable, since a random Boolean function in n variables has average sensitivity n/2. The paper also contains experimental evidence that the layer number is an important factor in network stability.
title Boolean nested canalizing functions: a comprehensive analysis
topic Dynamical Systems
Molecular Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/1204.5203