Robustness analysis of genetic regulatory networks affected by model uncertainty

A fundamental problem in systems biology consists of investigating robustness properties of genetic regulatory networks (GRNs) with respect to model uncertainty. This paper addresses this problem for GRNs where the coefficients are rationally affected by polytopic uncertainty, and where the saturation functions are not exactly known. First, it is shown that a condition for ensuring that the GRN has a globally asymptotically stable equilibrium point for all admissible uncertainties can be obtained in terms of a convex optimization problem with linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), hence generalizing existing results that mainly consider only the case of GRNs where the coefficients are linearly affected by the uncertainty and the regulatory functions are in SUM form. Second, the problem of estimating the worst-case convergence rate of the trajectories to the equilibrium point over all admissible uncertainties is considered, and it is shown that a lower bound of this rate can be computed by solving a quasi-convex optimization problem with LMIs. Third, the paper considers the problem of estimating the set of uncertainties for which the GRN has a globally asymptotically stable equilibrium point. This problem is addressed, first, by showing how one can compute estimates with fixed shape by solving a quasi-convex optimization problem with LMIs, and second, by deriving a procedure for computing estimates with variable shape. Numerical examples illustrate the use of the proposed techniques. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.