Bifurcation Analysis of a Biochemical Network.

An approach that uses tools from systems and control theory is presented. Such technique enables the determination of the essential interactions in the autoregulatory process that describes the cell cycle of Xenopus frog eggs. The results make possible an assessment of the effect of each protein on the biochemical network stability. The proposed method is based on bifurcation diagram and linearization near the operating point of interest. A perturbation analysis makes possible the determination of the critical proteins responsible for complex behavior in the system, emphasizing how system theory can play an essential role in the study of these systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]