Synchronization effects in a metabolism-driven model of multi-cellular system

Understanding the synchronization, either induced or spontaneous, of cell growth, division and proliferation in a cell culture is an important topic in molecular biology and biotechnology. Metabolic processes related to the synthesis of all the molecules needed for a new round of cell division are the basic underlying phenomena responsible for the behaviour of the population. Complex dynamics, such as population oscillations, arise when the individual members of a population divide in unison. To investigate the conditions that can determine oscillatory behaviors, we here use a multi-scale model that couples the simulation of metabolic growth, via metabolic network modelling and Flux Balance Analysis, with the simulation of population and spatial dynamics, via Cellular Potts Models. We here show that repeated oscillations in the overall number of cells spontaneously emerge, due to the synchronization of duplication events, unless cell density-dependent controls on growth are introduced.