Multistability of Small Zero-One Reaction Networks

Zero-one reaction networks play key roles in cell signaling such as signalling pathways regulated by protein phosphorylation. Multistability of zero-one networks is a key dynamics feature enabling decision-making in cells. Since multistability (or, nondegenerate multistationarity) can be lifted from a smaller subnetwork (low-dimensional networks with less species and fewer reactions) to large networks, we aim to explore the multistability problem of small zero-one networks. We prove that any zero-one network with a one-dimensional stoichiometric subspace admits at most one (stable) positive steady state (this steady state is also called a structural attractor), and we completely classify all the one-dimensional zero-one networks according to if they indeed admits a (stable) positive steady state or not. Also, we prove that any two-dimensional zero-one network with up to three species either admits only degenerate positive steady states, or admits at most one (stable) positive steady state. In these proofs, we apply the theorem based on the Brouwer degree theory and the theory of real algebraic geometry. Moreover, using the tools of computational algebraic geometry, we provide a systematical way for detecting the smallest zero-one networks that admit nondegenerate multistationarity/multistability. We show that the smallest zero-one networks that admit nondegenerate multistationarity contain three species and five reactions, and the smallest zero-one networks that admit multistability contain three species and six reactions.