The deficiency one algorithm

Here I continue the discussion of Chemical Reaction Network Theory with the Deficiency One Algorithm. As its name suggests this is an algorithm for investigating whether a reaction network allows multistationarity or not. It is also associated to a theorem. This theorem says that the satisfaction of certain inequalities associated to a reaction network is equivalent to the existence of a choice of reaction constants for which the corresponding system of equations with mass action kinetics has two distinct positive stationary solutions in a stoichiometric compatibility class. This is true in the context of networks of deficiency one which satisfy some extra conditions. The property of satisfying these, called regularity, seems to be relatively weak. In fact, as in the case of the Deficiency One Theorem, there is a second related result where a pair of zeroes of the right hand side in a stoichiometric compatibility class is replaced by a vector in the kernel of which is tangent to that class.

An example where this theory can be applied is double phosphorylation in the processive case. The paper of Conradi et. al. cited in the last post contains the statement that in this system the Deficiency One Algorithm implies that multistationarity is not possible. For this it refers to the Chemical Reaction Network Toolbox, a software package which implements the calculations of the theorem. In my course I decided for illustrative purposes to carry out these calculations by hand. It turned out not to be very hard. The conclusion is that multistationarity is not possible for this system but the general machinery does not address the question of whether there are any positive stationary solutions. I showed that this is the case by checking by hand that -limit points on the boundary of the positive orthant are impossible. The conclusion then follows by a well-known argument based on the Brouwer fixed point theorem. This little bit of practical experience with the Deficiency One Algorithm gave me the impression that it is really a powerful tool. At this point it is interesting to note a cross connection to another subject which I have discussed in this blog. It is a model for the Calvin cycle introduced by Grimbs et. al. These authors noted that the Deficiency One Algorithm can be applied to this system to show that it does not allow multistationarity. They do not present the explicit calculations but I found that they are not difficult to do. In this case the equations for stationary solutions can be solved explicitly so that using this tool is a bit of an overkill. It neverless shows the technique at work in another example.

Regularity consists of three conditions. The first (R1) is a necessary condition that there be any positive solutions at all. If it fails we get a strong conclusion. The second (R2) is the condition familiar from the Deficiency One Theorem. (R3) is a purely graph theoretic condition on the network. A weakly reversible network which satisfies (R3) is reversible. Reading this backwards, if a network is weakly reversible but not reversible then the theorem does not apply. The inequalities in the theorem depend on certain partitions of a certain set of complexes (the reactive complexes) into three subsets. What is important is whether the inequalities hold for all partitions of a network or whether there is at least one partition for which they do not hold. The proof of the theorem uses a special basis of the kernel of where is a function on constructed from the reaction constants. In the context of the theorem this space has dimension and of the basis vectors come from a special basis of of the type which already comes up in the proof of the Deficiency Zero Theorem.

An obvious restriction on the applicability of the Deficiency One Algorithm is that it is only applicable to networks of deficiency one. What can be done with networks of higher deficiency? One alternative is the Advanced Deficiency Algorithm, which is implemented in the Chemical Reaction Network Toolbox. A complaint about this method which I have seen several times in the literature is that it is not able to treat large systems – apparently the algorithm becomes unmanageable. Another alternative uses the notion of elementary flux modes which is the next topic I will cover in my course. It is a way of producing certain subnetworks of deficiency one from a given network of higher deficiency. The subnetworks satisfy all the conditions needed to apply the Deficiency One Algorithm except perhaps .

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