Incorporating Time Delays into the Logical Analysis of Gene Regulatory Networks

Based on the logical description of gene regulatory networks developed by R. Thomas, we introduce an enhanced modelling approach that uses timed automata. It yields a refined qualitative description of the dynamics of the system incorporating information not only on ratios of kinetic constants related to synthesis and decay, but also on the time delays occurring in the operations of the system. We demonstrate the potential of our approach by analysing an illustrative gene regulatory network of bacteriophage λ.