Hybrid Functional Petri Nets as MP systems

In this work we give a formalization of Hybrid Functional Petri Nets, shortly HFPN, an extension of Petri Nets for biopathways modelling, and we compare them with Metabolic P Systems. An introduction to both the formalisms is given, together with highlights about respective similarities and differences. Their equivalence is thus proved by means of a theorem which holds under quite general hypotheses. The case study of the lac operon gene regulatory mechanism in the glycolytic pathway of Escherichia coli is modeled by an MP system which provides the same dynamics of an equivalent HFPN model.