PoCaB: A software infrastructure to explore algebraic methods for bio-chemical reaction networks

Abstract

Given a bio-chemical reaction network, we discuss the different algebraic entities e.g. stoichiometric matrix, polynomial system, deficiency and flux cones which are prerequisite for the application of various algebraic methods to qualitatively analyse them. We compute these entities on the examples obtained from two publicly available bio-databases called Biomodels and KEGG. The computations involve the use of computer algebra tools (e.g. polco, polymake). The results consisting of mostly matrices are arranged in form of a derived database called PoCaB (Platform of Chemical and Biological data). We also present a visualization program to visualize the extreme currents of the flux cone. We hope this will aid in the development of methods relevant for computational systems biology involving computer algebra. The database is publicly available at http://pocab.cg.cs.uni-bonn.de/