A Simplified Multivariate Markov Chain Model for the Construction and Control of Genetic Regulatory Networks

The construction and control of genetic regulatory networks using gene expression data is an important research topic in bioinformatics. Probabilistic Boolean Networks (PBNs) have been served as an effective tool for this purpose. However, PBNs are difficult to be used in practice when the number of genes is large because of the huge computational cost. In this paper, we propose a simplified multivariate Markov model for approximating a PBN. The new model can preserve the strength of PBNs and at the same time reduce the complexity of the network and therefore the computational cost. We then present an optimal control model with hard constraints for the purpose of control/intervention of a genetic regulatory network. Numerical experimental examples based on the yeast data are then given to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed model and control policy.