Internal cohesion gradient as a novel mechanism of collective cell migration
Fig 6
Simulations of 5-cell cluster with Gaussian fluctuations.
(a) Outermost cells, N1 and N5, experience displacements according to Gaussian fluctuations. The colored lines show the subsequent positions of each cell within the cluster. Note the upper 4 cells migrate consistently upward, toward the higher internal cohesion gradient, while the lower cell wanders almost independently. (b) Comparison between centers of mass subject to regular extensions (gray, from Fig 3), Gaussian fluctuations without a cohesion gradient (blue), and Gaussian fluctuations with a gradient (red). Solid lines indicate the average cluster position at successive times, and the dotted line are the least squares fit to the data. Only the case with the gradient migrates persistently, as shown by the positive slope (red dotted line). Key parameters are as follows: gradient strength = 10, cluster size = 5, protrusion amplitude = 1, protrusion period = 5. (c) Mean Squared Displacement analysis of N = 100 simulations of cell clusters without a gradient (blue) and with a gradient (red). Final positions range from -1 to 7 radii away from the initial position for clusters with a gradient vs ±3 radii away for clusters without a gradient. Cyan dashed lines indicate linear regression: and quadratic regression:
. Key parameters are as follows: gradient strength = 10, cluster size = 5, protrusion amplitude = 1, protrusion period = 15.