DISTRIBUTED DELAY STABILIZES BISTABLE GENETIC NETWORKS.

We use two methods to explain this stabilization phenomenon. First, we introduce and simulate stochastic hybrid models that depend on a switching-rate parameter. These stochastic hybrid models allow us to unfold the distributed-delay models in the sense that, in certain cases, the distributed-delay model can be viewed as a fast-switching limit of the corresponding stochastic hybrid model. Second, we generalize the three-states model, a symbolic model of bistability, and analyze this extension.