Hierarchical Petri Nets for Modeling Metabolic Phenotype in Prokaryotes

A systematic strategy is presented in this paper to build Petri-net models for the biological reaction networks and their gene regulation mechanisms in prokaryotes. Component models are first developed to represent the cellular functional units, i.e., operons, regulons, modulons, and individual reactions. A step-by-step procedure is then proposed to assemble these components to form hierarchical system models. The usefulness of the proposed approach is demonstrated with a realistic example. The model validity is shown by comparing simulation predictions with experimental data in the literature.