Fig. 2: Overview of the classification of intracellular coupled oscillators relevant to this study.

In non-autonomous systems, oscillators within cells are influenced by an external force (dashed orange and turquoise lines). In autonomous systems, however, the oscillators interact directly with each other within the cells (solid orange and turquoise lines). Variations in the type and strength of these interactions give rise to distinct oscillator categories. Independent oscillators occur when no interactions are present (light beige background), while deeply coupled oscillators (dark blue background) arise under infinitely strong interactions. Between these extremes, oscillators can be classified as weakly or strongly coupled (gradient of blue intensity background). Further distinctions can be made regarding the relative frequency of the oscillators (length of orange/turquoise lines) or the direction of coupling (orange or turquoise arrows).