On the number of asynchronous attractors in AND-NOT Boolean networks

Abstract: Boolean Networks (BNs) describe the time evolution of binary states using logic functions on the nodes of a network. They are fundamental models for complex discrete dynamical systems, with applications in various areas of science and engineering, and especially in systems biology. A key aspect of the dynamical behavior of BNs is the number of attractors, which determines the diversity of long-term system trajectories. Due to the noisy nature and incomplete characterization of biological systems, a stochastic asynchronous update scheme is often more appropriate than the deterministic synchronous one. AND-NOT BNs, whose logic functions are the conjunction of literals, are an important subclass of BNs because of their structural simplicity and their usefulness in analyzing biological systems for which the only information available is a collection of interactions among components. In this paper, we establish new theoretical results regarding asynchronous attractors in AND-NOT BNs. We derive two new upper bounds for the number of asynchronous attractors in an AND-NOT BN based on structural properties (strong even cycles and dominating sets, respectively) of the AND-NOT BN. These findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of asynchronous dynamics in AND-NOT BNs, with implications for attractor enumeration and counting, as well as for network design and control.