Bistability: Requirements on cell-volume, protein diffusion, and thermodynamics

11Citations
Citations of this article
46Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Bistability is considered wide-spread among bacteria and eukaryotic cells, useful e.g. for enzyme induction, bet hedging, and epigenetic switching. However, this phenomenon has mostly been described with deterministic dynamic or well-mixed stochastic models. Here, we map known biological bistable systems onto the well-characterized biochemical Schlögl model, using analytical calculations and stochastic spatiotemporal simulations. In addition to network architecture and strong thermodynamic driving away from equilibrium, we show that bistability requires fine-tuning towards small cell volumes (or compartments) and fast protein diffusion (well mixing). Bistability is thus fragile and hence may be restricted to small bacteria and eukaryotic nuclei, with switching triggered by volume changes during the cell cycle. For large volumes, single cells generally loose their ability for bistable switching and instead undergo a first-order phase transition.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Endres, R. G. (2015). Bistability: Requirements on cell-volume, protein diffusion, and thermodynamics. PLoS ONE, 10(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121681

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free