AUTHOR=Heltberg Mathias , von Borries Mads , Bendix Poul Martin , Oddershede Lene B. , Jensen Mogens H. 

TITLE=Temperature Controls Onset and Period of NF-κB Oscillations and can Lead to Chaotic Dynamics

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2022.910738

DOI=10.3389/fcell.2022.910738

ISSN=2296-634X

ABSTRACT=The transcription factor NF-kB plays a vital role in the control of the immune system, and following stimulation with TNF-a its nuclear concentration shows oscillatory behaviour. How environmental factors, in particular temperature, can control the oscillations and thereby affect gene stimulation is still however an unsolved question. In this work, we reveal that the period of the oscillations decreases with increasing temperature. We investigate this using a mathematical model, and by applying results from statistical physics, we introduce temperature dependency to all rates, resulting in a remarkable correspondence between model and experiments. With the model we predict how this affects downstream protein production and find a crossover, where high affinity genes up-regulated at high temperatures. Finally we show oscillatory temperatures can entrain NF-kB oscillations and lead to chaotic dynamics presenting a simple path to chaotic conditions in cellular biology.