Boolean network approach to negative feedback loops of the p53 pathways: synchronized dynamics and stochastic limit cycles.

Deterministic and stochastic Boolean network models are built for the dynamics of negative feedback loops of the p53 pathways. It is shown that the main function of the negative feedback in the p53 pathways is to keep p53 at a low steady state level, and each sequence of protein states in the negative feedback loops, is globally attracted to a closed cycle of the p53 dynamics after being perturbed by outside signal (e.g., DNA damage). Our theoretical and numerical studies show that both the biological stationary state and the biological oscillation after being perturbed are stable for a wide range of noise level. Applying the mathematical circulation theory of Markov chains, we investigate their stochastic synchronized dynamics and by comparing the network dynamics of the stochastic model with its corresponding deterministic network counterpart, a dominant circulation in the stochastic model is the natural generalization of the deterministic limit cycle in the deterministic system. Moreover, the period of the main peak in the power spectrum, which is in common use to characterize the synchronized dynamics, perfectly corresponds to the number of states in the main cycle with dominant circulation. Such a large separation in the magnitude of the circulations--between a dominant, main cycle and the rest--gives rise to the stochastic synchronization phenomenon.