Abstract
A stochastic model for a general system of first-order reactions in which each reaction may be either a conversion reaction or a catalytic reaction is derived. The governing master equation is formulated in a manner that explicitly separates the effects of network topology from other aspects, and the evolution equations for the first two moments are derived. We find the surprising, and apparently unknown, result that the time evolution of the second moments can be represented explicitly in terms of the eigenvalues and projections of the matrix that governs the evolution of the means. The model is used to analyze the effects of network topology and the reaction type on the moments of the probability distribution. In particular, it is shown that for an open system of first-order conversion reactions, the distribution of all the system components is a Poisson distribution at steady state. Two different measures of the noise have been used previously, and it is shown that different qualitative and quantitative conclusions can result, depending on which measure is used. The effect of catalytic reactions on the variance of the system components is also analyzed, and the master equation for a coupled system of first-order reactions and diffusion is derived.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arazi, A., Ben-Jacob, E., Yechiali, U., 2004. Bridging genetic networks and queuing theory. Physica A 332, 585–616.
Athreya, K., Ney, P., 1972. Branching Processes. Springer-Verlag.
Austin, R.H., Beeson, K.W., Eisenstein, L., Frauenfelder, H., Gunsalus, I.C., 1975. Dynamics of ligand binding to myoglobin. Biochemistry 14(24), 5355–5373.
Bartholomay, A.F., 1958. Stochastic models for chemical reactions: I. theory of the unimolecular reaction process. Math. Biophys. 20, 175–190.
Bartholomay, A.F., 1959. Stochastic models for chemical reactions: II. the unimolecular rate constant. Math. Biophys. 21, 363–373.
Blake, W.J., Kaern, M., Cantor, C.R., Collins, J.J., 2003. Noise in eukaryotic gene expression. Nature 422(6932), 633–637.
Bodewig, E., 1959. Matrix Calculus. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York.
Bokinsky, G., Rueda, D., Misra, V.K., Rhodes, M.M., Gordus, A., Babcock, H.P., Walter, N.G., Zhuang, X., 2003. Single-molecule transition-state analysis of RNA folding. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100(16), 9302–9307.
Brown, F.L.H., 2003. Single-molecule kinetics with time-dependent rates: a generating function approach. Phys. Rev. Lett. 90(2), 028302.
Darvey, I.G., Ninham, B.W., Staff, P.J., 1966. Stochastic models for second-order chemical reaction kinetics, the equilibrium state. J. Chem. Phys. 45(6), 2145–2155.
Darvey, I.G., Staff, P.J., 1966. Stochastic approach to first-order chemical reaction kinetics. J. Chem. Phys. 44(3), 990.
Delbruck, M., 1940. Statistical fluctuations in autocatalytic reactions. J. Chem. Phys. 8, 120–124.
Durrett, R., 1999. Essentials of Stochastic Processes. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Elowitz, M.B., Levine, A.J., Siggia, E.D., Swain, P.S., 2002. Stochastic gene expression in a single cell. Science 297(5584), 1183–1186.
Fredrickson, A.G., 1966. Stochastic triangular reactions. Chem. Engg. Sci. 21, 687–691.
Gani, J., 1965. Stochastic models for bacteriophage. J. Appl. Prob. 2, 225–268.
Gans, P.J., 1960. Open first-order stochastic processes. J. Chem. Phys. 33(3), 691.
Gardiner, C.W., 1983. Handbook of Stochastic Methods. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Gillespie, D.T., 1976. A general method for numerically simulating the stochastic time evolution of coupled chemical reactions. J. Comput. Phys. 22, 403–434.
Harris, T., 1963. The Theory of Branching Processes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Horn, F., Jackson, R., 1972. General mass action kinetics. Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 48, 81.
Iorio, E.E.D., Hiltpold, U.R., Filipovic, D., Winterhalter, K.H., Gratton, E., Vitrano, E., Cupane, A., Leone, M., Cordone, L., 1991. Protein dynamics. comparative investigation on heme-proteins with different physiological roles. Biophys. J 59(3), 742–754.
Kelly, F.P., 1979. Reversibility and Stochastic Networks. In: Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics. John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, USA, London, UK, Sydney, Australia.
Kendall, D.G., 1948. On the generalized “birth-and-death” process. Ann. Math. Stat. 19(1), 1–15.
Kepler, T.B., Elston, T.C., 2001. Stochasticity in transcriptional regulation: origins, consequences, and mathematical representations. Biophys. J. 81(6), 3116–3136.
Kim, S.K., 1958. Mean first passage time for a random walker and its application to chemical kinetics. J. Chem. Phys. 28(6), 1057–1067.
Klein, M.J., 1956. Generalization of the Ehrenfest urn model. Phys. Rev. 103(1), 17–20.
Krieger, I.M., Gans, P.J., 1960. First-order stochastic processes. J. Chem. Phys. 32(1), 247.
Kuthan, H., 2001. Self-organisation and orderly processes by individual protein complexes in the bacterial cell. Prog. Biophys. Mol. Biol. 75(1–2), 1–17.
Laurenzi, I.J., 2000. An analytical solution of the stochastic master equation for reversible biomolecular reaction kinetics. J. Chem. Phys. 113(8), 3315–3322.
Levsky, J.M., Singer, R.H., 2003. Gene expression and the myth of the average cell. Trends Cell Biol. 13(1), 4–6.
Mayor, U., Guydosh, N.R., Johnson, C.M., Grossmann, J.G., Sato, S., Jas, G.S., Freund, S.M., Alonso, D.O., Daggett, V., Fersht, A.R., 2003. The complete folding pathway of a protein from nanoseconds to microseconds. Nature 421(6925), 863–867.
McQuarrie, D.A., 1963. Kinetics of small systems. J. Chem. Phys. 38(2), 433–436.
McQuarrie, D.A., Jachimowski, C.J., Russell, M.E., 1964. Kinetics of small systems. II. J. Chem. Phys. 40(10), 2914.
Montroll, E.W., Shuler, K.E., 1958. The application of the theory of stochastic processes to chemical kinetics. Adv. Chem. Phys. 1, 361–399.
Nicolis, G., Prigogine, I., 1977. Self-organization in nonequilibrium systems: from dissipative structures to order through fluctuations. John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, USA, London, UK, Sydney, Australia, A Wiley-Interscience Publication.
Othmer, H.G., 1969. Interactions of reaction and diffusion in open systems. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Othmer, H.G., 1979. A graph-theoretic analysis of chemical reaction networks, Lecture Notes, Rutgers University.
Othmer, H.G., 1981. The interaction of structure and dynamics in chemical reaction networks. In: Ebert, K.H., Deuflhard, P., Jager, W. (Eds.), Modelling of Chemical Reaction Systems. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 1–19.
Othmer, H.G., Scriven, L.E., 1971. Instability and dynamic pattern in cellular networks. J. Theor. Biol. 32, 507–537.
Ozbudak, E.M., Thattai, M., Kurtser, I., Grossman, A.D., van Oudenaarden, A., 2002. Regulation of noise in the expression of a single gene. Nat. Genet. 31(1), 69–73.
Rao, C.V., Arkin, A.P., 2003. Stochastic chemical kinetics and the quasi-steady-state assumption: Application to the Gillespie algorithm. J. Chem. Phys. 118(11), 4999–5010.
Shuler, K.F., 1960. Relaxation processes in multistate systems. Phys. Fluids 2(4), 442–448.
Siegert, A.J.F., 1949. On the approach to statistical equilibrium. Phys. Rev. 76(11), 1708–1714.
Singer, K., 1953. Application of the theory of stochastic processes to the study of irreproducible chemical reactions and nucleation processes. J. Roy. Stat. Soc. Ser. B 15(1), 92–106.
Spudich, J.L., Koshland, D.E., 1976. Non-genetic individuality: chance in the single cell. Nature 262(5568), 467–471.
Stundzia, A.B., Lumsden, C.J., 1996. Stochastic simulation of coupled reaction-diffusion processes. J. Comput. Phys. 127(0168), 196–207.
Swain, P.S., Elowitz, M.B., Siggia, E.D., 2002. Intrinsic and extrinsic contributions to stochasticity in gene expression. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99(20), 12795–12800.
Thattai, M., van Oudenaarden, A., 2001. Intrinsic noise in gene regulatory networks. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98(15), 8614–8619.
Turing, A.M., 1952. The chemical basis of morphogenesis. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 237, 37–72.
Tyson, J.J., Othmer, H.G., 1978. The dynamics of feedback control circuits in biochemical pathways. Prog. Theor. Biol. 5, 1–62.
Wei, J., Prater, C.D., 1962. The structure and analysis of complex reaction systems. Adv. Catal. 13, 203.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
All authors contributed equally to this work.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gadgil, C., Lee, C.H. & Othmer, H.G. A stochastic analysis of first-order reaction networks. Bull. Math. Biol. 67, 901–946 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bulm.2004.09.009
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bulm.2004.09.009