Partial Order on the set of Boolean Regulatory Functions

• Main Author: José E. R. Cury
• Publication Date: 2019
• Other Authors: Pedro T. Monteiro, Claudine Chaouiya
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.7/936
• topic: Boolean regulatory networks, Boolean functions, Partial order, Discrete dynamics

Logical models have been successfully used to describe regulatory and signaling networks without requiring quantitative data. However, existing data is insufficient to adequately define a unique model, rendering the parametrization of a given model a difficult task. Here, we focus on the characterization of the set of Boolean functions compatible with a given regulatory structure, i.e. the set of all monotone nondegenerate Boolean functions. We then propose an original set of rules to locally explore the direct neighboring functions of any function in this set, without explicitly generating the whole set. Also, we provide relationships between the regulatory functions and their corresponding dynamics. Finally, we illustrate the usefulness of this approach by revisiting Probabilistic Boolean Networks with the model of T helper cell differentiation from Mendoza & Xenarios.