Internal noise-driven circadian oscillator in Drosophila

An internal noise-driven oscillator was studied in a two-variable Drosophila model, where both positive feedback and negative feedback are crucial to the circadian oscillations. It is shown that internal noise could sustain reliable oscillations for the parameter which produces a stable steady state in the deterministic system. The noise-sustained oscillations are interpreted by using phase plane analysis. The period of such oscillations fluctuates slightly around the period of deterministic oscillations and the coherence of oscillations becomes the best at an optimal internal noise intensity, indicating the occurrence of intrinsic coherence resonance. In addition, in the oscillatory region, the coherence of noisy circadian oscillations is suppressed by the internal noise, but the period is hardly affected, demonstrating the robustness of the Drosophila model for circadian rhythms to the intrinsic noise.