Summary.

Cellular slime mold called Dictyostelium discoideum is unique amoeba in the sense that it shows multi-cellular animal-like state and plant-like state within 24 hours when starved. Mutual synchronization of intracellular ligand production rhythms between amoebae via receptors plays a central role in their surviving strategy under starvation, and guarantees the robustness of the surviving strategy.
  By adopting a cellular dynamics method, we have clarified the above strategy. We have also generalized the biological scheme of synchronization mathematically, and mutual synchronization of nonlinear oscillators could be achieved even if their frequency difference is above 100 or there are functional differences.
  The aim of aggregation of amoeba is to make spores for the next generation. Thus, their pattern formation or aggregation must be robust. Frequency modulation also plays an essential role in their successful aggregation and it is very similar to annealing procedure of the crystal growth although no temperature is involved in it. We show their strategy for aggregation is mathematically applicable to crystal growth, too. 
  We believe that biological systems have learned how to use physics for their survival during the past 3.5 billion years, and we can learn a lot from their survival strategy.