Stability of stationary solutions in models of the Calvin cycle

Abstract

In this paper results are obtained concerning the number of positive stationary solutions in simple models of the Calvin cycle of photosynthesis and the stability of these solutions. It is proved that there are open sets of parameters in the model of Zhu et al. (2009) for which there exist two positive stationary solutions. There are never more than two isolated positive stationary solutions but under certain explicit special conditions on the parameters there is a whole continuum of positive stationary solutions. It is also shown that in the set of parameter values for which two isolated positive stationary solutions exist there is an open subset where one of the solutions is asymptotically stable and the other is unstable. In related models derived from the work of Grimbs et al. (2011), for which it was known that more than one positive stationary solution exists, it is proved that there are parameter values for which one of these solutions is asymptotically stable and the other unstable. A key technical aspect of the proofs is to exploit the fact that there is a bifurcation where the centre manifold is one-dimensional.