Switches, Oscillators (and the Cell Cycle)

By incorporating positive and negative feedback into phosphorylation cycles of proteins such as GTPases (described in Lecture 2), one arrives at a biochemical mini-circuits with properties of a switch or an oscillator. I provide examples from papers by Boris Kholodenko. I also show the connection between bistability and hysteresis and relaxation oscillations (e.g. in the Fitzhugh-Nagumo model). I briefly
discuss applications of such ideas to models of the cell cycle proposed over the years by John Tyson.