Temperature compensation through kinetic regulation in biochemical oscillators.

Nearly all circadian clocks maintain a period that is insensitive to temperature changes, a phenomenon known as temperature compensation (TC). Yet, it is unclear whether there is any common feature among different systems that exhibit TC. From a general timescale invariance, we show that TC relies on the existence of certain period-lengthening reactions wherein the period of the system increases strongly with the rates in these reactions.

Bacterial Replication Initiation as Precision Control by Protein Counting.

Balanced biosynthesis is the hallmark of bacterial cell physiology, where the concentrations of stable proteins remain steady. However, this poses a conceptual challenge to modeling the cell-cycle and cell-size controls in bacteria, as prevailing concentration-based eukaryote models are not directly applicable. In this study, we revisit and significantly extend the initiator-titration model, proposed 30 years ago, and we explain how bacteria precisely and robustly control replication initiation based on the mechanism of protein copy-number sensing.

Replication initiation in bacteria: precision control based on protein counting.

Balanced biosynthesis is the hallmark of bacterial cell physiology, where the concentrations of stable proteins remain steady. However, this poses a conceptual challenge to modeling the cell-cycle and cell-size controls in bacteria, as prevailing concentration-based eukaryote models are not directly applicable. In this study, we revisit and significantly extend the initiator-titration model, proposed thirty years ago, and explain how bacteria precisely and robustly control replication initiation based on the mechanism of protein copy-number sensing.