Global Robustness of A Three Protein Circadian Oscillator

From Q-bio

Three protein circadian oscillations in cyanobacteria sustain for weeks [1]. To understand how cellular oscillations function robustly in stochastic fluctuating environments, we used a stochastic model to uncover two natures of circadian oscillation[1]: the potential landscape related to steady state probability distribution of protein concentrations and the corresponding flux related to speed of concentration changes which drive the oscillations. The barrier height of escaping from the oscillation attractor on the landscape provides a quantitative measure of the robustness and coherence for oscillations against intrinsic and external fluctuations. These results correlated with experiments can help to design robust oscillatory networks.

[1] Rust MJ, Markson JS, Lane WS, Fisher DS, O'Shea EK (2007) Ordered phosphorylation governs oscillation of a three-protein circadian clock. Science 318:809-812.