Abstract

Cellular rhythms are generated by complex interactions among genes, proteins and metabolites. They are used to control every aspect of cell physiology, from signalling, motility and development to growth, division and death. We consider specific examples of oscillatory processes and discuss four general requirements for biochemical oscillations: negative feedback, time delay, sufficient 'nonlinearity' of the reaction kinetics and proper balancing of the timescales of opposing chemical reactions. Positive feedback is one mechanism to delay the negative-feedback signal. Biological oscillators can be classified according to the topology of the positive- and negative-feedback loops in the underlying regulatory mechanism.

Author affiliations

1. Oxford Centre for Integrative Systems Biology, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK.
2. Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA.

Correspondence to: Béla Novák¹ Email: bela.novak@bioch.ox.ac.uk

Published online 30 October 2008

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