Nested canalyzing, unate cascade, and polynomial functions

Abstract

This paper focuses on the study of certain classes of Boolean functions that have appeared in several different contexts. Nested canalyzing functions have been studied recently in the context of Boolean network models of gene regulatory networks. In the same context, polynomial functions over finite fields have been used to develop network inference methods for gene regulatory networks. Finally, unate cascade functions have been studied in the design of logic circuits and binary decision diagrams. This paper shows that the class of nested canalyzing functions is equal to that of unate cascade functions. Furthermore, it provides a description of nested canalyzing functions as a certain type of Boolean polynomial function. Using the polynomial framework one can show that the class of nested canalyzing functions, or, equivalently, the class of unate cascade functions, forms an algebraic variety which makes their analysis amenable to the use of techniques from algebraic geometry and computational algebra. As a corollary of the functional equivalence derived here, a formula in the literature for the number of unate cascade functions provides such a formula for the number of nested canalyzing functions.