Qualitative analysis of a coupled reaction-diffusion model in biology with time delays

Abstract

Certain biochemical reaction can be modeled by a coupled system of time-delayed ordinary differential equations and linear parabolic partial differential equations. In a three-compartment model these equations are coupled through the boundary conditions. The aim of this paper is to give a qualitive analysis of this unusual coupled system. The analysis includes the existence and uniqueness of a global solution, explicit upper and lower bounds of the solution, and global stability of a steady-state solution. The global stability result is with respect to any nonnegative initial perturbation and is independent of the time delays in the process of reaction. Special attention is given to the Goodwin model for biochemical control of genes by a negative feedback mechanism with time delay and diffusion.