Dynamics of a 3 cluster cell-cycle system with positive linear feedback

In this technical note we calculate the dynamics of a linear feedback model of progression in the cell cycle in the case that the cells are organized into k = 3 clusters. We examine the dynamics in detail for a specific subset of parameters with non-empty interior. There is an interior fixed point of the Poincaré map defined by the system. This fixed point corresponds to a periodic solution with period T in which the three clusters exchange positions after time T/3. We call this solution 3-cyclic. In all the parameters studied, the fixed point is either: • isolated and locally unstable, or, • contained in a neutrally stable set of period 3 points. In the later case the edges of the neutrally stable set are unstable. This case exists if either the three clusters are isolated from each other, or, if they interact in a nonessential way. In both cases the orbits of all other interior points are asymptotic to the boundary. Thus 3-cyclic solutions are practically unstable in the sense the arbitrarily small perturbations may lead to loss of stability and eventual merger of clusters. Since the single cluster solution (synchronization) is the only solution that is asymptotically stable, it would seem to be the most likely to be observed in application if the feedback is similar to the form we propose and is positive.