Fig. 4

Comparison of ODE and MSM analysis of the monomer Exclusive Toggle Switch (ETS) network. a Schematic of the ETS network motif. b The Markov State Model identifies three macrostates corresponding to the Hi/Lo, Hi/Hi, and Lo/Hi phenotypes. Parameter values are listed in Additional file 1: Table S2. c The nulllclines and vector field of the deterministic ODEs show a single fixed point steady-state, with both genes expressing at the maximum rate (Hi/Hi phenotype). b, d, e The corresponding landscape and MSM show tristability: d The quasipotential landscape shows three visible basins corresponding to the Hi/Lo, Hi/Hi, and Lo/Hi phenotypes. Macrostate centers located by their respective 50% probability contours (ellipsoids), as in Fig. 2. e The 20 dominant eigenvalues reveal timescale separation, including a gap after λ ₃