Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026

Synthesis and Assay of Vibrio Quorum Sensing Inhibitors
Published on: May 31, 2024
Electronic implementation of a repressilator with quorum sensing feedback
Edward H Hellen1, Syamal K Dana, Boris Zhurov
1Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, United States of America. ehhellen@uncg.edu
Abstract:
We investigate the dynamics of a synthetic genetic repressilator with quorum sensing feedback. In a basic genetic ring oscillator network in which three genes inhibit each other in unidirectional manner, an additional quorum sensing feedback loop stimulates the activity of a chosen gene providing competition between inhibitory and stimulatory activities localized in that gene. Numerical simulations show several interesting dynamics, multi-stability of limit cycle with stable steady-state, multi-stability of different stable steady-states, limit cycle with period-doubling and reverse period-doubling, and infinite period bifurcation transitions for both increasing and decreasing strength of quorum sensing feedback. We design an electronic analog of the repressilator with quorum sensing feedback and reproduce, in experiment, the numerically predicted dynamical features of the system. Noise amplification near infinite period bifurcation is also observed. An important feature of the electronic design is the accessibility and control of the important system parameters.
Related Concept Videos
Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing
Bacterial Signaling
Repressible Operon: trp Operon
Bioreactor Controls-II
Feedback control systems
Linear feedback systems are theoretical models that simplify analysis and design. These systems operate under the principle that their output is directly proportional to their input within certain ranges. For instance, an amplifier in a control system behaves linearly as long as the input signal remains within a specific range. However, most physical systems exhibit inherent nonlinearity...
Bioreactor Controls-III

