Dominance switching between substrate adhesion and curvature in directional collective cell migration

Substrate curvature and cell-substrate adhesion are two key physical determinants of directional collective cell migration, yet their joint regulatory mechanism remains unresolved. Here, we establish a physical framework based on the instantaneous force balance to reveal the dominance switching mechanism between these two factors in collective cell migration. Higher curvature sets a threshold that gates migration initiation by redistributing forces, while adhesion primarily governs curvature-independent migration velocity after cells surpass the threshold by mediating the balance between driving and resistive forces. This framework yields experimentally consistent predictions for in vitro systems and helps understand a diversity of physiological and pathological processes that involve collective cell dynamics.