Sustained oscillations in glycolysis: an experimental and theoretical study of chaotic and complex periodic behavior and of quenching of simple oscillations.

We report sustained oscillations in glycolysis conducted in an open system (a continuous-flow, stirred tank reactor; CSTR) with inflow of yeast extract as well as glucose. Depending on the operating conditions, we observe simple or complex periodic oscillations or chaos. We report the response of the system to instantaneous additions of small amounts of several substrates as functions of the amount added and the phase of the addition. We simulate oscillations and perturbations by a kinetic model based on the mechanism of glycolysis in a CSTR. We find that the response to particular perturbations forms an efficient tool for elucidating the mechanism of biochemical oscillations.