发表机构
Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen; Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa; Centro de Física Teórica e Computacional, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa（哥本哈根大学尼尔斯·玻尔研究所; 里斯本大学理学院物理系; 里斯本大学理学院理论与计算物理中心）
机构由 AI 辅助整理，请以论文原文为准。AI 中文总结
该研究揭示细胞分裂通过调节细胞网络的几何与机械灵活性，控制上皮组织集体流动的普适几何，维持共形不变性，连接基本生物过程与涌现物理对称性。
AI 中文摘要
上皮组织中的集体流动包含一个涡旋界面的几何主干，其统计特征表现出临界渗流和共形不变性的标志。然而，基本的细胞过程如何控制这种富含对称性的流动几何的破坏仍不清楚。在此，我们表明细胞分裂通过控制细胞-细胞网络的几何和机械灵活性，在调节这种普适流动组织中发挥核心物理作用。利用药理学扰动，我们发现当通过两种独立干预抑制增殖时，连贯流动持续存在，但邻居交换减少，共形不变几何丧失。阻断凋亡不影响普适性，从而将分裂隔离为关键控制因素。具有可调分裂的顶点模型定量重现了这些效应，并在允许分裂时恢复共形不变性。我们进一步将此效应追溯到细胞层几何和机械组织的改变：分裂充当间歇性拓扑更新，放松约束，保持网络在不同尺度上重排的灵活性和能力。因此，除了其在生长中的经典作用外，细胞分裂还充当集体自组织的结构和机械调节器。这些发现建立了基本生物过程与涌现物理对称性之间的直接联系。
英文摘要
Collective flows in epithelial tissues contain a geometric backbone of vortical interfaces whose statistics exhibit hallmarks of critical percolation and conformal invariance. Yet how fundamental cellular processes govern the breakdown of such symmetry-rich flow geometry remains unclear. Here we show that cell division plays a central physical role in regulating this universal flow organization by controlling both the geometric and mechanical flexibility of the cell-cell network. Using pharmacological perturbations, we find that when proliferation is suppressed through two independent interventions, coherent flows persist but neighbor exchanges decline and conformally invariant geometry is lost. Blocking apoptosis does not affect universality, isolating division as the key control. A vertex model with tunable division quantitatively reproduces these effects and restores conformal invariance when division is allowed. We further trace this effect to changes in both the geometric and mechanical organization of the cell layer: Divisions act as intermittent topological renewals that loosen constraints, preserving the network's flexibility and capacity to rearrange across scales. Thus, beyond its canonical role in growth, cell division acts as a structural and mechanical regulator of collective self-organization. These findings establish a direct connection between fundamental biological processes and emergent physical symmetries.
Comments15 pages, 4 figures
Journal refProc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 123 (30), e2532420123 (2026)
