Javier Macía, Ricard Solé, Stefanie Widder
Paper #: 08-10-044
Genetic toggle switches are widespread in gene regulatory networks (GRN). It is often assumed that negative feedbacks with cooperative binding (i. e. the formation of dimers or multimers) are a prerequisite for bistability. Here we analyze the relation between bistability in GRN under monomeric regulation and the role of autoloops in a deterministic setting. Using a simple geometric argument, we show analytically that bistability can also emerge without multimeric regulation, provided that at least one regulatory autoloop is present.