Correlating cell behavior with tissue topology in embryonic epithelia

Area of Science:

• Developmental biology
• Biophysics
• Computational biology

Background:

• Cell neighbor number statistics in embryonic epithelial tissues exhibit universality during proliferation.
• Previous non-spatial models have been claimed to accurately reproduce these universal statistics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically evaluate the capability of non-spatial models in describing universal cell neighbor statistics in proliferating epithelia.
• To investigate the role of spatial correlations in cell neighbor distributions.
• To analyze cell neighbor statistics in early chick embryo development where multiple cell behaviors are active.

Main Methods:

• Systematic critical analysis of non-spatial proliferation models.
• Spatial simulations using the Subcellular Element Model (SEM).
• Experimental observation and analysis of cell neighbor statistics in chick embryo primitive streak region.

Main Results:

• Non-spatial models fail to robustly describe universal cell neighbor statistics, indicating the necessity of spatial correlations.
• Spatial simulations using the Subcellular Element Model successfully reproduce universal histograms and unify divergent experimental data.
• Broader cell neighbor distributions observed in the chick embryo primitive streak correlate well with a non-spatial Markov process model, suggesting weaker spatial correlations.

Conclusions:

• Cell neighbor statistics are a sensitive indicator of collective cell behaviors in developing tissues.
• Spatial arrangement and correlations are crucial for understanding cell neighbor distributions in proliferating epithelia.
• The Subcellular Element Model provides a robust framework for simulating tissue development and unifying experimental observations.