Biexcitability and Bursting Mechanisms in Neural and Genetic Circuits

Abstract This paper compares mechanisms for generating repetitive spikes (bursts) in neural and transcriptional circuits. Neurons generate bursts followed by refractory periods controlled by ion channels in the membrane. In contrast, in gene transcription the bursts occur during a short time period followed by silent periods regulated by sis-regulatory elements. The role of excitability in producing different patterns of bursts is discussed by comparing the topology of a neural model with natural and synthetic transcriptional genetic circuits. In particular, a special bi-excitable architecture which embeds two excitable states are compared in these systems.