Visual setup of logical models of signaling and regulatory networks with ProMoT

BMC Bioinformatics. 2006 Nov 17:7:506. doi: 10.1186/1471-2105-7-506.

Abstract

Background: The analysis of biochemical networks using a logical (Boolean) description is an important approach in Systems Biology. Recently, new methods have been proposed to analyze large signaling and regulatory networks using this formalism. Even though there is a large number of tools to set up models describing biological networks using a biochemical (kinetic) formalism, however, they do not support logical models.

Results: Herein we present a flexible framework for setting up large logical models in a visual manner with the software tool ProMoT. An easily extendible library, ProMoT's inherent modularity and object-oriented concept as well as adaptive visualization techniques provide a versatile environment. Both the graphical and the textual description of the logical model can be exported to different formats.

Conclusion: New features of ProMoT facilitate an efficient set-up of large Boolean models of biochemical interaction networks. The modeling environment is flexible; it can easily be adapted to specific requirements, and new extensions can be introduced. ProMoT is freely available from http://www.mpi-magdeburg.mpg.de/projects/promot/.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biochemistry / methods
  • Computational Biology / methods*
  • Computer Graphics
  • Humans
  • Internet
  • Lymphocyte Activation
  • Models, Biological
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Programming Languages
  • Signal Transduction*
  • Software*
  • Systems Biology
  • User-Computer Interface