Data di Pubblicazione:
2017
Citazione:
Giant fluctuations and structural effects in a flocking epithelium / F. Giavazzi, C. Malinverno, S. Corallino, F. Ginelli, G. Scita, R. Cerbino. - In: JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D. APPLIED PHYSICS. - ISSN 0022-3727. - 50:38(2017), pp. 384003.1-384003.11. [10.1088/1361-6463/aa7f8e]
Abstract:
Epithelial cells cultured in a monolayer are very motile in isolation but reach a near-jammed state when mitotic division increases their number above a critical threshold. We have recently shown that a monolayer can be reawakened by over-expression of a single protein, RAB5A, a master regulator of endocytosis. This reawakening of motility was explained in terms of a flocking transition that promotes the emergence of a large-scale collective migratory pattern. Here we focus on the impact of this reawakening on the structural properties of the monolayer. We find that the unjammed monolayer is characterised by a fluidisation at the single cell level, and by enhanced non-equilibrium large-scale number fluctuations at a larger length scale. Also, with the help of numerical simulations, we trace back the origin of these fluctuations to the self-propelled active nature of the constituents, and to the existence of a local alignment mechanism, leading to the spontaneous breaking of the orientational symmetry.
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
active matter; jamming transition; collective cell migration; non-equilibrium fluctuations
Elenco autori:
F. Giavazzi, C. Malinverno, S. Corallino, F. Ginelli, G. Scita, R. Cerbino
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