Multi-synchronization and other patterns of multi-rhythmicity in oscillatory biological systems

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Systems Biology
• Theoretical Biology

Background:

• Rhythmic behavior is fundamental across biological organization levels.
• Multi-rhythmicity, the coexistence of multiple oscillatory regimes (e.g., birhythmicity, trirhythmicity), is predicted by theoretical models.
• Experimental evidence for multi-rhythmicity exists in chemical reactions and biological systems like cardiac cells, neurobiology, and ecology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review mechanisms of multi-rhythmicity in biochemical and cellular oscillator models.
• To investigate multi-rhythmicity arising from the bidirectional coupling of the cell cycle and circadian clock.
• To characterize the synchronization patterns in bidirectionally coupled cellular oscillators.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of multi-rhythmicity in oscillator models.
• Mathematical modeling of coupled cell cycle and circadian clock networks.
• Analysis of synchronization phenomena, including distinct waveforms and periods.

Main Results:

• A review of established multi-rhythmicity mechanisms in biochemical and cellular models.
• Demonstration that bidirectional coupling of cell cycle and circadian clock introduces new multi-rhythmicity.
• Identification of 'multi-synchronization,' where coupled oscillators synchronize in multiple distinct ways.

Conclusions:

• Multi-rhythmicity is a significant phenomenon in biological oscillators with diverse underlying mechanisms.
• The bidirectional coupling of cell cycle and circadian clock is a novel source of multi-rhythmicity.
• Multi-synchronization, characterized by multiple distinct synchronization states, arises from this coupling.