Coherence in Biological Systems

Abstract

When does a collection of autonomous cells become a multicellular individual? We propose that coherence provides a physical description of this transition. Coherence is treated as a global property arising when distinguishable constituents admit a physically meaningful collective state-space description. Using the center of mass and an interaction-based construction, we show that such collective states can be defined for classical bodies before dynamics is introduced, with normal modes emerging as a particular dynamical realization. We apply this framework to multicellular organization, where cells retain their identities while their independent individuality is replaced by participation in the organized whole. In \emph{Dictyostelium discoideum}, cAMP-mediated coupling produces population-level collective modes, while starvation provides an experimentally controlled energetic constraint on the transition to multicellularity. The framework yields direct tests through interaction-derived collective eigenstates and the energetic cost of maintaining autonomous versus collective organization. Coherence may thus provide a general physical description of multicellular individuality without requiring microscopic quantum coherence or intrinsic wave character.