Multistability and clustering in a population of synthetic genetic oscillators via phase-repulsive cell-to-cell communication.
We show that phase-repulsive coupling eliminates oscillations in a population of synthetic genetic clocks. For this, we propose an experimentally feasible synthetic genetic network that contains phase repulsively coupled repressilators with broken temporal symmetry. As the coupling strength increases, silencing of oscillations is found to occur via the appearance of an inhomogeneous limit cycle, followed by oscillation death. Two types of oscillation death are observed: For lower couplings, the cells cluster in one of two stationary states of protein expression; for larger couplings, all cells end up in a single (stationary) cellular state. Several multistable regimes are observed along this route to oscillation death.
Ullner
Ekkehard
E
Departament de Física i Enginyeria Nuclear, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Colom 11, E-08222, Terrassa, Spain.
Zaikin
Alexei
A
Volkov
Evgenii I
EI
García-Ojalvo
Jordi
J
D001683:Biological Clocks; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D008954:Models, Biological