Suppression of chaos by periodic oscillations in a model for cyclic AMP signalling inDictyostelium cells

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Abstract
We investigate how the introduction of cells oscillating periodically affects the behaviour of a suspension ofDictyostelium discoideum amoebae undergoing chaotic oscillations of cyclic AMP. The analysis of a model indicates that a tiny proportion of periodic cells suffices to transform chaos into periodic oscillations in such suspensions. A similar result is obtained by forcing the aperiodic oscillations by a small-amplitude, periodic input of cyclic AMP. The results provide an explanation for the observation of regular oscillations in suspensions of a putatively chaotic mutant ofDictyostelium discoideum 12. More generally, the results show how chaos in biological systems may disappear through the coupling with periodic oscillations.