ANDOR and beyond: dynamically switchable logic gates as modules for flexible information processing

Understanding how complex (bio-)chemical pathways and regulatory networks may be capable of processing information in efficient, flexible, and robust ways is a key question with implications touching biology, synthetic biology, and dynamical systems theory. While considerable effort has been focused on identification and characterization of structural motifs and their dynamics involved in biological information processing, a framework for studying context-dependency and flexibility of the motifs is lacking. We here propose a small set of effective modules that are capable of performing different logical operations based on the basin of attraction in which the system resides or is steered to. These dynamically switchable logic gates require fewer components than their traditional analogs where static, separate gates are used for each desired function. The multi-stability enabling this multi-functionality arises from interactions among the components making the switchability an emergent behavior. We demonstrate the applicability and limits of these circuits by determining a robust range of parameters over which they correctly operate and then characterize the resilience of their function against intrinsic noise of the constituent reactions using the theory of large deviations.