Crystal-like order and defects in metazoan epithelia with spherical geometry

Since Robert Hooke studied cork cell patterns in 1665, scientists have been puzzled by why cells form such ordered structures. The laws underlying this type of organization are universal, and we study them comparing the living and non-living two-dimensional systems self-organizing at the spherical surface. Such-type physical systems often possess trigonal order with specific elongated defects, scars and pleats, where the 5-valence and 7-valence vertices alternate. In spite of the fact that the same physical and topological rules are involved in the structural organization of biological systems, such topological defects were never reported in epithelia. We have discovered them in the follicular spherical epithelium of ascidians that are emerging models in developmental biology. Surprisingly, the considered defects appear in the epithelium even when the number of cells in it is significantly less than the previously known threshold value. We explain this result by differences in the cell sizes and check our hypothesis considering the self-assembly of different random size particles on the spherical surface. Scars, pleats and other complex defects found in ascidian samples can play an unexpected and decisive role in the permanent renewal and reorganization of epithelia, which forms or lines many tissues and organs in metazoans.