Abstract:
Signal transduction occurs when cell responds to some external stimulus. In this way
information regarding external stimulus is conveyed to different portions of cell for suitable
action. This signal transduction constitutes a series of chemical interactions/modifications
and can be represented in many forms. Graphical representation of this process is called
signaling pathway. The large number of chemical interactions and presence of cross talk
make the pathway too complicated to be fully analyzed. Any defect/mutation of protein
can change the correct behaviour of pathway. It is essential to carry out both qualitative
and quantitative analysis to fully understand the complexities of these signaling pathways.
Pathway Logic (PL) is a computational framework for the qualitative analysis of signaling
pathways. Moreover, its ability to represent the pathways in Petri net form leads to the
quantitative analysis using quantitative Petri net (QPN) tools. In this thesis we have
taken chemical interactions involved in Insulin signaling and modeled it in Pathway Logic
to identify the cross talk within insulin pathway. This complete pathway is analyzed for
structural properties using Petri net theory. Moreover, a quantitative analysis of a part of
the complete pathway is performed using quantitative Petri net to get insight into dynamic
aspects of this pathway. The time histories of activation and deactivation of proteins are
found. Moreover, the steady state concentrations are also found.
