Dynamics and stability of a three-dimensional model of cell signal transduction with delay

In this paper, we consider a three-dimensional model of cell signal transduction with delay. The deactivation of signalling proteins occurs throughout the cytosol and activation is localized to specific sites in the cell. The enzyme kinetic functions employ a constant delay to model the time lapse during reactions and also the recovery times associated with conformational changes. We use matched asymptotic expansions to construct the dynamic solutions of signalling protein concentrations. The result of the asymptotic analysis is a system of delayed differential algebraic equations. This reduced system is compared to numerical simulations of the full three-dimensional system. As well, we consider the stability of equilibrium solutions. We find that the systems under consideration may undergo Hopf bifurcations for certain delay values. In these cases sustained oscillations are observed. The Poincare-Lindstedt3 method is used to improve upon the asymptotic approximations. The simulations of the full three-dimensional system correspond well with simulations of the reduced delayed differential algebraic equations.