Biological Circuits: Analysis of a Biological Oscillator

TL;DR

This paper models the cyanobacterial circadian oscillator mathematically, couples it with Earth's rotation, and explores quantum circuit representations to understand its function.

Contribution

It derives the oscillator's equations from experimental data and introduces a quantum circuit approach for biological oscillator modeling.

Findings

Oscillator's natural periods and resonance curves computed.

Coupling oscillator dynamics with Earth's rotation.

Proposes quantum circuit models for biological oscillators.

Abstract

The simple circadian oscillator found in cyanobacteria can be reconstituted in vitro using three proteins-KaiA, KaiB and KaiC. The total phosphorylation level of KaiC oscillates with a circadian period. Recent experiments elucidated the structure and function of the cyanobacterial circadian oscillator, which is driven by sunlight intensity variation and therefore by Earth's rotation. In this paper, we derive the oscillator's equation of motion directly from experimental data, couple it with Earth's rotation and compute its natural periods and resonance curve. Finally, we propose the use of a quantum circuit that is capable of describing the function of the oscillator.