The 3D gray shape represents a very high-dimensional manifold (shown in 3D here only due to limitations of visualization) of achievable observables within the even higher-dimensional space of all theoretical observables. A cell is represented by its location on this holistic cell state manifold. The fluctuating nature of that cell’s observables as the cell remains in its stable holistic cell state (Figure 2B) can be represented by slight changes in location (three small black dots) within a region on the manifold that represents all possible values for cells within that stable attractor region (larger blue dot). Other distinct stable holistic states are represented at different locations and as different colors on the manifold.
