Improved Methods for the Mathematically Controlled Comparison of Biochemical Systems
Author(s)
Schwacke, John H.
Advisor(s)
Editor(s)
Collections
Supplementary to:
Permanent Link
Abstract
The method of mathematically controlled comparison provides a structured approach for the
comparison of alternative biochemical pathways with respect to selected functional effectiveness
measures. Under this approach, alternative implementations of a biochemical pathway are modeled
mathematically, forced to be equivalent through the application of selected constraints, and
compared with respect to selected functional effectiveness measures. While the method has been
applied successfully in a variety of studies, we offer recommendations for improvements to the
method that (1) relax requirements for definition of constraints sufficient to remove all degrees of
freedom in forming the equivalent alternative, (2) facilitate generalization of the results thus
avoiding the need to condition those findings on the selected constraints, and (3) provide additional
insights into the effect of selected constraints on the functional effectiveness measures. We present
improvements to the method and related statistical models, apply the method to a previously
conducted comparison of network regulation in the immune system, and compare our results to
those previously reported.
Sponsor
Date
2004-06-04
Extent
1047583 bytes
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Article