Translation-invariant monotone systems, and a global convergence result for enzymatic futile cycles

Abstract

Strongly monotone systems of ordinary differential equations which have a certain translation-invariance property are shown to have the property that all projected solutions converge to a unique equilibrium. This result may be seen as a dual of a well-known theorem of Mierczyński for systems that satisfy a conservation law. As an application, it is shown that enzymatic futile cycles have a global convergence property.