Coarse graining of biochemical systems described by discrete stochastic dynamics

Abstract

Many biological systems can be described by finite Markov models. A general method for simplifying master equations is presented that is based on merging adjacent states. The approach preserves the steady-state probability distribution and all steady-state fluxes except the one between the merged states. Different levels of coarse graining of the underlying microscopic dynamics can be obtained by iteration, with the result being independent of the order in which states are merged. A criterion for the optimal level of coarse graining or resolution of the process is proposed via a tradeoff between the simplicity of the coarse-grained model and the information loss relative to the original model. As a case study, the method is applied to the cycle kinetics of the molecular motor kinesin.

References in corpus (3)

• Entropy production and coarse-graining in Markov processes
• A possible classification of nonequilibrium steady states
• Coarse graining of master equations with fast and slow states

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Dynamics of Micro and Nanoscale Systems in the Weak-Memory Regime
• Waiting time distributions in hybrid models of motor-bead assays: A concept and tool for inference
• Dynamics of micro and nanoscale systems in the weak-memory regime: A mathematical framework beyond the Markov approximation
• Excess and loss of entropy production for different levels of coarse-graining