Dynamical quorum sensing: Population density encoded in cellular dynamics

doi:10.1073/pnas.0706089104

Dynamical quorum sensing: Population density encoded in cellular dynamics

*Unité Mixte de Recherche 7625, Université Pierre et Marie Curie and Ecole Normale Supérieure, F-75005 Paris, France;
^‡Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 75231 Paris, France; and
^§Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark; and
^‖Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

Edited by J. Woodland Hastings, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and approved October 1, 2007 (received for review June 28, 2007)

Abstract

Mutual synchronization by exchange of chemicals is a mechanism for the emergence of collective dynamics in cellular populations. General theories exist on the transition to coherence, but no quantitative, experimental demonstration has been given. Here, we present a modeling and experimental analysis of cell-density-dependent glycolytic oscillations in yeast. We study the disappearance of oscillations at low cell density and show that this phenomenon occurs synchronously in all cells and not by desynchronization, as previously expected. This study identifies a general scenario for the emergence of collective cellular oscillations and suggests a quorum-sensing mechanism by which the cell density information is encoded in the intracellular dynamical state.

Footnotes

^†To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: demonte{at}biologie.ens.fr
Author contributions: S.D.M., F.d.O., and S.D. designed research; S.D.M., F.d.O., S.D., and P.G.S. performed research; S.D.M., F.d.O., and S.D. analyzed data; and S.D.M., F.d.O., S.D., and P.G.S. wrote the paper.
↵ ^¶Present address: Topsoe Fuel Cell, Nymøllevej 55, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0706089104/DC1.
Abbreviation:

Aca,

acetaldehyde.