Inferring Gene Regulatory Network Models from Time-Series Data Using Metaheuristics

The inference of Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) from gene expression data is a hard and widely addressed scientific challenge with potential industrial and health-care use. Discrete and continuous models of GRNs are often used (i) to understand the process, and (ii) to predict the values of the relevant variables. Here, we propose a procedure to infer models of GRNs from data where (i) the data is binarized, (ii) a Boolean model is created using a Cartesian Genetic Programming technique, (iii) the obtained Boolean model is converted to a system of ordinary differential equations, and (iv) an Evolution Strategy defines the parameters of the continuous model. As a result, we expect to reduce the effect of noise and to improve biological interpretability. The proposed method is applied to two ODE systems that describe the circadian rhythm network dynamic, with 5 and 10 state variables. The models created by the proposed procedure are able to reproduce the behavior observed in the original data.