Bionetworks
Bionetworks
A bionetwork is a pathway within the cell that performs a specific purpose. This pathway involves many steps that require different proteins and may be connected to other pathways at many points. At any of these contact points, the pathway of interest may receive molecules [this is the source] or export molecules [this is the sink].
Examples of the various bionetworks are glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and ß-oxidation. The challenge of this approach is that all of the various bionetwork examples interact either through substrates, products, and/or the various molecules that establish the state of the cell (ATP, NADH, NAD, etc.). This interaction adds high levels of complexity to this type of analysis.
When the bionetwork reflects the changes that occur due to disease, the outcome of the inactivation of pathways or portions of pathways can reflect drugs that are competitive inhibitors of specific proteins. A library of many metabolic and regulatory pathways can be found in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes [http://www.genome.jp/kegg/].
Bionetworks, both metabolic and control, demonstrate complex behavior due to the redundancy of pathways, the interaction of various pathways, and distribution of the control of cellular behavior over the various pathways.
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