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Cellular organization in lab-evolved and extant multicellular species obeys a maximum entropy law

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Zamani-Dahaj, Seyed A 
Yanni, David 
Burnetti, Anthony 

Abstract

jats:pThe prevalence of multicellular organisms is due in part to their ability to form complex structures. How cells pack in these structures is a fundamental biophysical issue, underlying their functional properties. However, much remains unknown about how cell packing geometries arise, and how they are affected by random noise during growth - especially absent developmental programs. Here, we quantify the statistics of cellular neighborhoods of two different multicellular eukaryotes: lab-evolved ‘snowflake’ yeast and the green alga jats:italicVolvox carteri</jats:italic>. We find that despite large differences in cellular organization, the free space associated with individual cells in both organisms closely fits a modified gamma distribution, consistent with maximum entropy predictions originally developed for granular materials. This ‘entropic’ cellular packing ensures a degree of predictability despite noise, facilitating parent-offspring fidelity even in the absence of developmental regulation. Together with simulations of diverse growth morphologies, these results suggest that gamma-distributed cell neighborhood sizes are a general feature of multicellularity, arising from conserved statistics of cellular packing.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

Research Article, Physics of Living Systems, multicellularity, Snowflake yeast, Volvox, entropy, S. cerevisiae, Other

Journal Title

eLife

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2050-084X

Volume Title

11

Publisher

eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Sponsorship
National Institutes of Health (1R35GM138030)
Wellcome Trust (207510/Z/17/Z)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/M017982/1)
National Institutes of Health (1R35GM138354-01)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Vacation Bursary)
John Templeton Foundation (A009723003)