Relating Structural and Dynamical Properties of Biochemical Reaction Networks

The relation between structure and dynamics of a biological system is still an open question. We address this topic by investigating under what conditions components of a biological model featuring identical dynamical behaviour also share the same static properties. We analyse the topological and dynamical characteristics of several biochemical reaction networks (RNs) whose behaviour is described by an appropriate system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). We characterise the equivalence of dynamical properties of each RN using a recently developed exact model reduction technique for ODEs. Instead, structural properties are characterised using network analysis methods by converting RNs into undirected bipartite graphs. Although in general aggregated species do not have the same topological characteristics, we identify a class of RNs for which a correspondence between structure and dynamics can be observed. (Joint work with with Prof. Mirco Tribastone and Prof. Guido Caldarelli)