Emergence of Collective Oscillation in Adaptive Cell Populations

Cell-density-dependent rhythmic behavior, or dynamic quorum sensing, has been suggested to coordinate population level activities such as cell migration and embryonic development. Quantitative study of the oscillatory phenomenon is hitherto hampered by incomplete knowledge of the underlying intracellular processes. Here we show, using tools developed in non-equilibrium stochastic thermodynamics, that robust collective oscillation emerges when individual cells adapt to the signal that mediates cell-to-cell communication. Specifically, we prove a universal ``law'' that the response of an adaptive cell has a phase lead over the external stimulus in certain frequency range, which in turn drives population level cycles when conditions are met. We find this overarching principle to be at work in several natural and synthetic oscillatory systems, and it may help to guide the design of further experiments on glycolytic oscillation in yeast suspensions.