Oscillatory isozymes as the simplest model for coupled biochemical oscillators

J Theor Biol. 1989 May 22;138(2):149-74. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5193(89)80136-5.

Abstract

We analyze a simple model for two autocatalytic reactions catalyzed by two distinct isozymes transforming, with different kinetic properties, a given substrate into the same product. This two-variable system can be viewed as the simplest model of chemically coupled biochemical oscillators. Phase-plane analysis indicates how the kinetic differences between the two enzymes give rise to complex oscillatory phenomena such as the coexistence of a stable steady state and a stable limit cycle, or the co-existence of two simultaneously stable oscillatory regimes (birhythmicity). The model allows one to verify a previously proposed conjecture for the origin of birhythmicity. In other conditions, the system admits multiple oscillatory domains as a function of a control parameter whose variation gives rise to markedly different types of oscillations. The latter behavior provides an explanation for the occurrence of multiple modes of oscillations in thalamic neurons.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Feedback
  • Isoenzymes / metabolism*
  • Kinetics
  • Models, Biological*
  • Models, Neurological
  • Nervous System Physiological Phenomena

Substances

  • Isoenzymes