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The emergence of geometric order in proliferating metazoan epithelia

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew C. Gibson

    (Harvard Medical School
    Stowers Institute for Medical Research)

  • Ankit B. Patel

    (Harvard University)

  • Radhika Nagpal

    (Harvard University)

  • Norbert Perrimon

    (Harvard Medical School)

Abstract

Sent Packing Throughout the multicellular eukaryotes, epithelial cell sheets resemble irregular polygonal arrays dominated by hexagonal cells. Precisely how this fundamental pattern forms remains poorly understood, although it was commonly assumed that cells sort into honeycomb arrays by the physics of optimal packing. A combination of time-lapse microscopy of proliferating epithelial cells with clonal analysis and mathematical modelling has been used to refute this idea. The default polygonal topology of metazoan epithelia is not random nor the product of minimal packing, but is a direct mathematical consequence of the cell division process. Cell division intrinsically restricts epithelial sheets to a specific equilibrium distribution of four- to nine-sided polygonal cells. This structure is found in the simple epithelia of organisms as diverse as Drosophila, the cnidarian Hydra, and the frog Xenopus.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew C. Gibson & Ankit B. Patel & Radhika Nagpal & Norbert Perrimon, 2006. "The emergence of geometric order in proliferating metazoan epithelia," Nature, Nature, vol. 442(7106), pages 1038-1041, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:442:y:2006:i:7106:d:10.1038_nature05014
    DOI: 10.1038/nature05014
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    Cited by:

    1. Y. Chélin & J. Averseng & P. Cañadas & B. Maurin, 2013. "Divided media-based simulations of tissue morphogenesis," Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(S1), pages 2-3, July.
    2. Patrik Sahlin & Henrik Jönsson, 2010. "A Modeling Study on How Cell Division Affects Properties of Epithelial Tissues Under Isotropic Growth," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(7), pages 1-9, July.
    3. John R. Jungck & Michael J. Pelsmajer & Camron Chappel & Dylan Taylor, 2021. "Space: The Re-Visioning Frontier of Biological Image Analysis with Graph Theory, Computational Geometry, and Spatial Statistics," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(21), pages 1-24, October.
    4. Sebastian A Sandersius & Manli Chuai & Cornelis J Weijer & Timothy J Newman, 2011. "Correlating Cell Behavior with Tissue Topology in Embryonic Epithelia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(4), pages 1-11, April.
    5. Clara Guijarro & Solène Song & Benoit Aigouy & Raphaël Clément & Paul Villoutreix & Robert G. Kelly, 2024. "Single-cell morphometrics reveals T-box gene-dependent patterns of epithelial tension in the Second Heart field," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.

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