Cell state synchronization by targeted inhibition for 50 and 5000 cells.

Cells were initialized with random states at t = −200 (not shown) and allowed to relax into the cyclic attractor so that P_μ(0 ≤ t < 200) ≈ 1/8. A set of eight genes was inhibited with an external control field over the range 200 ≤ t < 1000, fixing most cells near the μ = 7 state. After removing the control field, the cells resumed moving through the cycle with initially synchronized phases that slowly broaden. Eventually the system returns to a desynchronized state, P_μ(t → ∞) ≈ 1/8.