Multi-Compartment Linear Noise Approximation

TL;DR

This paper develops a linear noise approximation method for multi-compartment biochemical systems, enabling efficient quantification of stochastic fluctuations, and implements it in the COPASI software for practical use.

Contribution

It extends the linear noise approximation to models with multiple compartments and provides a computational implementation in COPASI.

Findings

The method accurately describes noise in multi-compartment systems.

Implementation in COPASI facilitates practical analysis.

Applied to realistic biochemical models with successful results.

Abstract

The ability to quantify stochastic fluctuations present in biochemical and other systems is becoming increasing important. Analytical descriptions of these fluctuations are attractive, as stochastic simulations are computationally expensive. Building on previous work, the linear noise approximation is developed for biochemical models with many compartments e.g. cells. The procedure is then implemented in the software package COPASI. This technique is illustrated with two simple examples and is then applied to a more realistic biochemical model. Expressions for the noise, given in the form of covariances matrices, are presented.