Work

Corepressive interaction and clustering of degrade-and-fire oscillators

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: Strongly nonlinear degrade-and-fire (DF) oscillations may emerge in genetic circuits having a delayed negative feedback loop as their core element. Here we study the synchronization of DF oscillators coupled through a common repressor field. For weak coupling, initially distinct oscillators remain desynchronized. For stronger coupling, oscillators can be forced to wait in the repressed state until the global repressor field is sufficiently degraded, and then they fire simultaneously forming a synchronized cluster. Our analytical theory provides necessary and sufficient conditions for clustering and specifies the maximum number of clusters that can be formed in the asymptotic regime. We find that in the thermodynamic limit a phase transition occurs at a certain coupling strength from the weakly clustered regime with only microscopic clusters to a strongly clustered regime where at least one giant cluster has to be present.

Source: Physical Review E

DOI: 10.1103/physreve.84.051916

Authors: Bastien Fernandez, Lev S. Tsimring

Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Aix-Marseille Université, Centre de Physique Théorique, University of California San Diego

Language: English

Topic: Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation

Subfield: Computer Networks and Communications

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Awards: G2919467636, San Diego Center for Systems Biology: From Maps to Models, G5765640540, Engineered Gene Circuits for Basic Science and Biotechnology