Figure 7.

Robustness from flexibility in the Neurospora clock. A. Variations in the relative flexibility and robustness of FRQ-dependent conidiation phase with wc-1 loop coupling strength a₇. Both measures decreases monotonically as the wc-1 loop is progressively decoupled from the negative frq loop. B. Relative flexibility and phase robustness are positively correlated, suggesting that one of the benefits of the increased flexibility conferred by the wc-1 loop is greater phase robustness against photoperiod changes. C. Dependence on a₇ of the evaluation function used to compute the relative robustness measure plotted in A. measures the extent to which entrained phase varies locally with photoperiod P : driven and systematic entrainment are quantified by values of 0 and 1 respectively. In long days, decreases to 0 as a₇ is reduced, causing the observed decrease in .