SKM 2023 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 35: Statistical Physics of Biological Systems I (joint session BP/DY)

DY 35.10: Talk

Thursday, March 30, 2023, 12:15–12:30, TOE 317

Microphase separation of living cells — •François Detcheverry, Adrien Carrère, Joseph d’Alessandro, Olivier Cochet-Escartin, Julie Hesnard, Nasser Ghazi, Charlotte Rivière, Christophe Anjard, and Jean-Paul Rieu — University of Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, Institut Lumière Matière, F-69622, VILLEURBANNE, France

Self-organization of cells is key to a variety of biological systems and physical concepts inspired from condensed matter have proven essential in understanding some of their properties. Here we demonstrate that microphase separation, long known in polymeric materials and other inert systems, has a natural counterpart in living cells. When placed below a millimetric film of liquid nutritive medium, a quasi two-dimensional population of Dictyostelium discoideum cells spontaneously self-assembles into compact domains. Their typical size of 100 µm is governed by a balance between competing interactions: an adhesion which acts as a short-range attraction and promotes aggregation, and an effective long-range repulsion stemming from aerotaxis in near anoxic condition. We present a combination of experimental data, analytical modelling and cell-based simulations that all support this scenario. Our findings establish a generic mechanism for self-organization of living cells and highlight oxygen regulation as an emergent organizing principle for biological matter.

[Preprint: bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.25.493184]