title: Electronic implementation of a repressilator with quorum sensing feedback.
abstract: We investigate the dynamics of a synthetic genetic repressilator with quorum sensing feedback. In a basic genetic ring oscillator network in which three genes inhibit each other in unidirectional manner, an additional quorum sensing feedback loop stimulates the activity of a chosen gene providing competition between inhibitory and stimulatory activities localized in that gene. Numerical simulations show several interesting dynamics, multi-stability of limit cycle with stable steady-state, multi-stability of different stable steady-states, limit cycle with period-doubling and reverse period-doubling, and infinite period bifurcation transitions for both increasing and decreasing strength of quorum sensing feedback. We design an electronic analog of the repressilator with quorum sensing feedback and reproduce, in experiment, the numerically predicted dynamical features of the system. Noise amplification near infinite period bifurcation is also observed. An important feature of the electronic design is the accessibility and control of the important system parameters.
authors: Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, United States of America. ehhellen@uncg.edu
authors: Edward H
authors: EH
authors: Hellen
authors: Syamal K
authors: SK
authors: Dana
authors: Boris
authors: B
authors: Zhurov
authors: Evgeny
authors: E
authors: Volkov
mesh_terms: D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055615:Electrical Equipment and Supplies; D025461:Feedback, Physiological; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D008957:Models, Genetic; D053038:Quorum Sensing
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