Synchronized switching induced by colored noise in the genetic toggle switch systems coupled by quorum sensing mechanism

It is well known that white noise can induce switch behaviors in bistable systems. However, recent experimental observation shows that extrinsic fluctuation in gene regulation networks has an autocorrelation time. That is, the extrinsic noise is colored. This paper aims at investigating the synchronized switching behaviors induced by colored noise in the genetic toggle switch systems coupled by quorum sensing (QS) mechanism. Compared with the white noise case, our results indicate: i) Colored noise has the optimal extrinsic noise strength for inducing the best synchronized switching; ii) Colored noise is much more prone to promote population synchronization while white noise is good at switch behavior; iii) Colored noise can accelerate protein production. These results are very useful for experimental scientists. Moreover, it sheds some light on potential clinical applications in gene therapy, artificial organisms design, and so on.