Modelling and analysis of feedback control mechanisms underlying osmoregulation in yeast

Abstract

Biological systems display complex dynamics emerging from intricate networks of interacting molecular components: cells use signalling pathways and regulatory control mechanisms to coordinate multiple processes, allowing them to respond and adapt to an ever-changing environment. Many structural and dynamical features of biological control systems can also be found in engineered control systems and, hence, feedback control theory can provide a useful approach for the analysis and design of complex biological systems. In this chapter we provide a control theoretic analysis of the osmoregulation system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (see [8, 24, 26, 40]), where a complex biochemical signalling and regulatory network allows cells to maintain homeostasis in the face of osmotic shock.