https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-026-02284-0
Regular Article
Bistability to quad-stability: emergence of hybrid phenotypes and enhanced spatiotemporal plasticity in the presence of host–circuit coupling
1
Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, 713209, Durgapur, India
2
Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, 400076, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
a
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Received:
26
September
2025
Accepted:
17
March
2026
Published online:
12
April
2026
Abstract
In the context of multistability-driven diseases, like cancer, spatiotemporal plasticity plays a significant role to achieve a spectrum of phenotypic variations. The interplay between gene-regulatory networks and environmental factors, such as resource competition and spatial diffusion, plays a crucial role in determining cellular behavior and phenotypic heterogeneity. Though reaction–diffusion frameworks have been widely applied in developmental biology, less attention has been paid to the simultaneous effects of resource competition and growth feedback on spatial organization. In this paper, we observed that a bistable genetic circuit under high resource competition due to growth feedback gives rise to multiple emergent phenotypes, as observed in cancer systems. Furthermore, we observed how spatial diffusion coupled with intrinsic nonlinearity can drive the emergence of distinct spatial dynamics over time. The observed spatiotemporal plasticity can also be driven by the comparative stability of the fixed points, diffusivity, and asymmetry of diffusion. Our findings highlight that growth-induced resource competition combined with diffusion can provide deeper insights into metastasis and cancer progression.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
