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Interacting active surfaces: A model for three-dimensional cell aggregates
Fig 5
Dynamics and steady-state shape of a cell doublet.
(A) Normalised area of contact as a function of time (
, 
). (B) Snapshots of deforming doublet at times indicated in (A), with the cell surface velocity field superimposed. (C) Coloured lines: ratio of contact surface area 
to cell surface area A, for simulations with different values of 
and 
. Black dotted line: theoretical approximation valid in the limit of 
. (D) Snapshots of doublet equilibrium shape for increasing adhesion strength; different parameters in (D1)-(D3) correspond to points labelled in C. (E) Comparison of a slice for the different simulations, with values of 
and 
indicated in C, and 
. The value of 
affects the shape smoothness of the edge of the adhesion patch. (F) Convergence of the method evaluated by computing the L2-norm of the error in the initial velocity field for two different 
(
(orange) and 
(blue)), and different average mesh sizes h, and comparing the results with a simulation with h/ℓ ≈ 2 ⋅ 10−2 (finer). (G) Schematic of adhering doublet, with different active tensions γ1 and γ2 for each cell. (H) Position of the cell centre of mass X1 and X2, as a function of active tension asymmetry between the two adhering cells, α = (γ1 − γ2)/(γ1 + γ2), where γ1 and γ2 are the surface tensions of the two cells. Beyond α = 0.69, the cell with lowest tension completely engulfs the one with highest tension. (I) Snapshots of doublet equilibrium shape, clipped by a plane passing by the line joining the cell centres, for increasing difference of active surface tension; corresponding to points labelled in H. In H, I: 
, 
, 
.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010762.g005