Abstract.The tool Snoopy provides a unifying Petri net framework which has particularly many application scenarios in systems and synthetic biology. The framework consists of two levels: uncoloured and coloured. Each level comprises a family of related Petri net classes, sharing structure, but being specialized by their kinetic information. Petri nets of all net classes within one level can be converted into each other, while changing the level involves user-guided folding or automatic unfolding. Models can be hierarchically structured, allowing for the mastering of larger networks. Snoopy supports the simultaneous use of several Petri net classes; the graphical user interface adapts dynamically to the active one. Built-in animation and simulation (depending on the net class) are complemented by export to various analysis tools. Snoopy facilitates the extension by new Petri net classes thanks to its generic design.
BackgroundHybrid simulation of (computational) biochemical reaction networks, which combines stochastic and deterministic dynamics, is an important direction to tackle future challenges due to complex and multi-scale models. Inherently hybrid computational models of biochemical networks entail two time scales: fast and slow. Therefore, it is intricate to efficiently and accurately analyse them using only either deterministic or stochastic simulation. However, there are only a few software tools that support such an approach. These tools are often limited with respect to the number as well as the functionalities of the provided hybrid simulation algorithms.ResultsWe present Snoopy’s hybrid simulator, an efficient hybrid simulation software which builds on Snoopy, a tool to construct and simulate Petri nets. Snoopy’s hybrid simulator provides a wide range of state-of-the-art hybrid simulation algorithms. Using this tool, a computational model of biochemical networks can be constructed using a (coloured) hybrid Petri net’s graphical notations, or imported from other compatible formats (e.g. SBML), and afterwards executed via dynamic or static hybrid simulation.ConclusionSnoopy’s hybrid simulator is a platform-independent tool providing an accurate and efficient simulation of hybrid (biological) models. It can be downloaded free of charge as part of Snoopy from http://www-dssz.informatik.tu-cottbus.de/DSSZ/Software/Snoopy.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12918-017-0449-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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