Analysis and control of genetic toggle switches subject to periodic multi-input stimulation

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the dynamics of a genetic toggle switch under periodic multi-input stimulation, providing an analytical model and control strategy to regulate gene expression levels.

Contribution

It introduces an analytical model for PWM-driven toggle switches and proposes a control method to regulate fluorescence levels under periodic forcing.

Findings

Model qualitatively matches experimental data

Parameter effects influence model accuracy

Proposed control strategy can regulate gene expression

Abstract

In this letter, we analyze a genetic toggle switch recently studied in the literature where the expression of two repressor proteins can be tuned by controlling two different inputs, namely the concentration of two inducer molecules in the growth medium of the cells. Specifically, we investigate the dynamics of this system when subject to pulse-width modulated (PWM) input. We provide an analytical model that captures qualitatively the experimental observations reported in the literature and approximates its asymptotic behavior. We also discuss the effect that the system parameters have on the prediction accuracy of the model. Moreover, we propose a possible external control strategy to regulate the mean value of the fluorescence of the reporter proteins when the cells are subject to such periodic forcing.