From Synchronised to Desynchronised Glycolytic Oscillations in Individual Yeast Cells

The cell density dependence of the glycolytic oscillations of intact yeast cells of the strain Saccharomyces carlsbergensis was investigated at both the levels of cell populations and of individual cells. On the collective, macroscopic population level the oscillation amplitudes gradually decreased with decreasing cell densities and below the critical density the collective dynamics became quiescent. However, single cells kept their oscillatory behaviour for low and very low cell densities even when cells were far away and isolated from each other. The lower the cell density of a population, the more the glycolytic oscillations of the individual cells became independent from that of their neighbours. This leads to a broadening of the distribution of oscillation frequencies in low-density populations, and also to a loss of entrainment among the individual cells.