Desynchronisation of glycolytic oscillations in yeast cell populations

Glycolytic oscillations of intact yeast cells of the strain Saccharomyces carlsbergensis were investigated at both the levels of cell populations and of individual cells. Individual cells showed glycolytic oscillations even at very low cell densities (e.g. 1.0 x 10(5) cells/ml). By contrast, the collective behaviour on the population level was cell density-dependent: at high cell densities it is oscillatory, but below the threshold density of 1.0 x 10(6) cells/ml the collective dynamics becomes quiescent. We demonstrate that the transition in the collective dynamics is caused by the desynchronisation of the oscillations of individual cells. This is characteristic for a Kuramoto transition. Spatially resolved measurements at low cell densities revealed that even cells that adhere to their neighbours oscillated with their own, independent frequencies and phases.