Modified K-leap method for stochastic simulation of genetic networks with small number of molecules

Recently, stochasticity in gene expression has received much attention by both experimental and computational biologists. Several leap methods have been developed for efficient stochastic simulation of gene networks or more general chemically reacting systems. In this paper, we merge the advantages of both the modified tau-leap method and our recently developed K-leap method, and develop a modified K-leap method. Our simulations demonstrate that our new leap method can increase simulation speed while providing almost the same simulation accuracy for gene networks.