Modeling of carbohydrate metabolism: from dietary carbohydrate to pyruvic acid by Petri-nets (PN)

In this paper, we present Petri-nets (PN) based modeling of biological process. Carbohydrate metabolism, which plays an important role in the regulation of the glucose concentration in the blood, is modeled and analyzed. The breakdown of carbohydrate occurs in a series of steps and the final outcome of the carbohydrate anabolism is generation of ATP, water and carbon dioxide as it is shown in figure. During this process, some of the potential energy stored in the hexose structure is released and used to derive the synthesis of ATP from ADP. There will be give an overview of the carbohydrate metabolism and a Petri net model would be constructed for the carbohydrate metabolism, which will show all the involved pathways in carbohydrate metabolism. Addressed model-method will effect on understanding one of the complicated biological processes for both educational purposes and research.