Shape-tension coupling produces nematic order in an epithelium vertex model
arXiv:2212.11037 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.228301
Abstract
We study the vertex model for epithelial tissue mechanics extended to include coupling between the cell shapes and tensions in cell-cell junctions. This coupling represents an active force which drives the system out of equilibrium and leads to the formation of nematic order interspersed with prominent, long-lived defects. The defects in the nematic ordering are coupled to the shape of the cell tiling, affecting cell areas and coordinations. This intricate interplay between cell shape, size, and coordination provides a possible mechanism by which tissues could spontaneously develop long-range polarity through local mechanical forces without resorting to long-range chemical patterning.
References in corpus (9)
- Anisotropy links cell shapes to tissue flow during convergent extension
- Theory of defect-mediated morphogenesis
- Linear Viscoelastic Properties of the Vertex Model for Epithelial Tissues
- Active T1 transitions in cellular networks
- Polar Fluctuations Lead to Extensile Nematic Behavior in Confluent Tissues
- Fluctuations can induce local nematic order and extensile stress in monolayers of motile cells
- Living cells on the move
- Morphologies of compressed active epithelial monolayers
- Alignment interactions drive structural transitions in biological tissues