Odefy - From discrete to continuous models

BMC Bioinformatics

Software

Jan Krumsiek¹  Sebastian Pölsterl¹  Dominik M Wittmann²  Fabian J Theis² 

[1] Institute for Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstädter Landstrasse 1, 85764, Munich-Neuherberg, Germany;Institute for Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstädter Landstrasse 1, 85764, Munich-Neuherberg, Germany;Department of Mathematics, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstrasse 3, 85748, Garching, Germany;

关键词: Boolean Function;    Boolean Network;    Boolean Model;    Hill Function;    Ordinary Differential Equation Model;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2105-11-233

 received in 2009-11-23, accepted in 2010-05-07,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPhenomenological information about regulatory interactions is frequently available and can be readily converted to Boolean models. Fully quantitative models, on the other hand, provide detailed insights into the precise dynamics of the underlying system. In order to connect discrete and continuous modeling approaches, methods for the conversion of Boolean systems into systems of ordinary differential equations have been developed recently. As biological interaction networks have steadily grown in size and complexity, a fully automated framework for the conversion process is desirable.ResultsWe present Odefy, a MATLAB- and Octave-compatible toolbox for the automated transformation of Boolean models into systems of ordinary differential equations. Models can be created from sets of Boolean equations or graph representations of Boolean networks. Alternatively, the user can import Boolean models from the CellNetAnalyzer toolbox, GINSim and the PBN toolbox. The Boolean models are transformed to systems of ordinary differential equations by multivariate polynomial interpolation and optional application of sigmoidal Hill functions. Our toolbox contains basic simulation and visualization functionalities for both, the Boolean as well as the continuous models. For further analyses, models can be exported to SQUAD, GNA, MATLAB script files, the SB toolbox, SBML and R script files. Odefy contains a user-friendly graphical user interface for convenient access to the simulation and exporting functionalities. We illustrate the validity of our transformation approach as well as the usage and benefit of the Odefy toolbox for two biological systems: a mutual inhibitory switch known from stem cell differentiation and a regulatory network giving rise to a specific spatial expression pattern at the mid-hindbrain boundary.ConclusionsOdefy provides an easy-to-use toolbox for the automatic conversion of Boolean models to systems of ordinary differential equations. It can be efficiently connected to a variety of input and output formats for further analysis and investigations. The toolbox is open-source and can be downloaded at http://cmb.helmholtz-muenchen.de/odefy.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Krumsiek et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.