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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2024.11.12.623154

In silico analysis of metabolic burden effects on a multicellular integral controller

Campanile, G.·Martinelli, V.·Salzano, D.·Fiore, D.·di Bernardo, M.
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Abstract

Metabolic burden is a critical limiting factor in the design of synthetic circuits, affecting both their reliability and performance. To mitigate its effects, distributing control functions across different cell populations within a multicellular control architecture offers a promising solution, while simultaneously enhancing modularity and re-usability of the circuits. We first present a model that explicitly accounts for limited ribosome availability within cells. Using this framework, we then derive a mathematical model of a multicellular antithetic integral controller that incorporates these shared resources. Through numerical bifurcation analysis and in silico agent-based experiments in BSim, we compare the multicellular controller against its traditional single-cell (embedded) implementation, evaluating both resource utilization and stability.

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Campanile, G., Martinelli, V., Salzano, D., Fiore, D., di Bernardo, M.. 2024-11-13. In silico analysis of metabolic burden effects on a multicellular integral controller. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.12.623154

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