Figure 10

Local robustness: distribution of the mean number of random walk steps needed to escape from the viable region for different model architectures. Panels (a), (b), and (c) show the distributions of the mean number of steps for architectures based on essential negative, essential positive, as well as essential positive and negative feedback loops, respectively. The mean number of steps averaged over all the viable parameter points that define topologies with an essential negative feedback loop is significantly higher than the mean number of steps for oscillators with essential positive or a combination of negative and positive feedback loops (Wilcoxon rank sum test: p-value = 2.25 · 10^-29 and p-value = 4.0 · 10^-20, respectively).