A state-independent model of cytochrome P-450 multiple enzyme reaction mechanisms

Software designed for the purpose of simulating numerical experiments should ideally provide the user with the flexibility to model all possible states of the system. Without this capability the software cannot serve the user in the most effective way. To achieve this goal, the designer must somehow incorporate the knowledge domain of the particular field into a generic representation of the system enabling state-independent applications of the model.;This paper examines the low-level descriptive method of design used for a program developed to simulate the reaction mechanism of the enzyme cytochrome P-450. It then presents the strategy used to implement a state-independent model of a multiple enzyme system and a procedural method to obtain a high-level representation of the system from which its machine representation was directly patterned. The software provides for both an interactive process whereby the user constructs the desired reaction system in terms of high-level behavioral descriptions and the subsequent autonomous generation of the corresponding set of differential equations.