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Abstract

A bistable toggle switch is a paradigmatic model in the field of biology. The dynamics of the system induced by Gaussian noise has been intensively investigated, but Gaussian noise cannot incorporate large bursts typically occurring in real experiments. This paper aims to examine effects of variations from one protein imposed by a non-Gaussian Lévy noise, which is able to describe even large jumps, on the coherent switch and the on/off switch via the steady-state probability density, the joint steady-state probability density and the mean first passage time. We find that a large burst of one protein due to the Lévy noises can induce coherent switches even with small noise intensities in contrast to the Gaussian case which requires large intensities for this. The influences of the stability index, skewness parameter and noise intensity on the on/off switch are analyzed, leading to an adjustment of the concentrations of both proteins and a decision which stable point to stay most. The mean first passage times show complex effects under Lévy noise, especially the stability index and skewness parameter. Our results also imply that the presence of non-Gaussian Lévy noises has fundamentally changed the escape mechanism in such a system compared with Gaussian noise.