Mechanics of epithelial tissue formation

Journal article (2018)

Authors

R. van Drongelen BN/Timon Idema Lab - AS
T. Vazquez Faci BN/Timon Idema Lab - AS , Universiteit Leiden
T.A.P.M. Huijben Applied Sciences
Maurijn van der Zee Universiteit Leiden
T. Idema BN/Timon Idema Lab - AS
Research Group
BN/Timon Idema Lab (AS) (TU Delft)
Development Voronoi tessellation Biophysical modeling Cellular mechanics
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Published Date

2018

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Applied Sciences

Department

BN/Bionanoscience

Research Group

BN/Timon Idema Lab

Abstract

A key process in the life of any multicellular organism is its development from a single egg into a full grown adult. The first step in this process often consists of forming a tissue layer out of randomly placed cells on the surface of the egg. We present a model for generating such a tissue, based on mechanical interactions between the cells, and find that the resulting cellular pattern corresponds to the Voronoi tessellation of the nuclei of the cells. Experimentally, we obtain the same result in both fruit flies and flour beetles, with a distribution of cell shapes that matches that of the model, without any adjustable parameters. Finally, we show that this pattern is broken when the cells grow at different rates.