Oscillations in Controlled Biochemical Systems

Stability analysis of equations describing certain biochemical control mechanisms involving negative feedback suggests that limit cycle behavior might be possible if the control system involves a sufficient number of intermediate chemical steps. For the example considered in this paper, digital simulation of the non-linear control system illustrates that limit cycle behavior actually arises for a sixth-order system. On the other hand, the corresponding fourth- and fifth-order systems are asymptotically stable