Multiple feedback loops in circadian cycles: robustness and entrainment as selection criteria

in Proceedings of the Seventh International Workshop on Computational Systems Biology, WCSB 2010 (2010, June)

This paper discusses the contribution of an additional feedback loop to the entrainment and the robustness of a circadian system. To quantify robustness, we perform a global analysis of the system's ... [more ▼]

This paper discusses the contribution of an additional feedback loop to the entrainment and the robustness of a circadian system. To quantify robustness, we perform a global analysis of the system's parameter space. We quantify the parameter region where the circuit displays an experimentally observed behavior, under entrainment. This global measure is comleted with a classification based on the phase response curve (PRC). For two models of circadian rhythms, we found that the one with two loops is more robust than the one with a single loop: the two-loop model shows better resilience to parameter perturbations and it has also a larger region where the PRC matches experimental PRCs of circadian oscillators. [less ▲]