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Gillespie Algorithm for Biochemical Reaction Simulation

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Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience
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Synonyms

Stochastic Simulation Algorithm (SSA)

Definition

The Gillespie Algorithm, also known as the Stochastic Simulation Algorithm (SSA), is a computer-oriented procedure for simulating the changes in the molecular populations of chemical species in a chemically reacting system. The algorithm requires the reactant molecules, typically solute molecules in a sea of many much smaller solvent molecules, to be dilute and well-mixed throughout the containing volume. In contrast to the traditional differential equations of chemical kinetics, which imposes not only those requirements but also the requirement that the molecular populations be very large, the SSA simulates the occurrence of individual reaction events in a way that properly reflects their inherent randomness. That randomness is often important for the relatively low molecular populations that commonly occur in cellular systems.

Since the middle of the nineteenth century, ordinary differential equations (ODEs) have been the...

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References

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Correspondence to Daniel T. Gillespie .

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Gillespie, D.T. (2015). Gillespie Algorithm for Biochemical Reaction Simulation. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_189-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_189-2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Gillespie Algorithm for Biochemical Reaction Simulation
    Published:
    29 September 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_189-2

  2. Original

    Gillespie Algorithm for Biochemical Reaction Simulation
    Published:
    01 March 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_189-1