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arXiv · 2407.17268

Data-driven theory reveals protrusion and polarity interactions governing collision behavior of distinct motile cells

Tom Brandstätter·Emily Brieger·David B. Brückner·Georg Ladurner·Joachim Rädler·Chase P. Broedersz
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Abstract

The migration behavior of colliding cells is critically determined by transient contact-interactions. During these interactions, the motility machinery, including the front-rear polarization of the cell, dynamically responds to surface protein-mediated transmission of forces and biochemical signals between cells. While biomolecular details of such contact-interactions are increasingly well understood, it remains unclear what biophysical interaction mechanisms govern the cell-level dynamics of colliding cells and how these mechanisms vary across cell types. Here, we develop a phenomenological theory based on 14 candidate contact-interaction mechanisms coupling cell position, protrusion, and polarity. Using high-throughput micropattern experiments, we detect which of these phenomenological contact-interactions captures the interaction behaviors of cells. We find that various cell types - ranging from mesenchymal to epithelial cells - are accurately captured by a single model with only two interaction mechanisms: polarity-protrusion coupling and polarity-polarity coupling. The qualitatively different interaction behaviors of distinct cells, as well as cells subject to molecular perturbations of surface protein-mediated signaling, can all be quantitatively captured by varying the strength and sign of the polarity-polarity coupling mechanism. Altogether, our data-driven phenomenological theory of cell-cell interactions reveals polarity-polarity coupling as a versatile and general contact-interaction mechanism, which may underlie diverse collective migration behavior of motile cells.

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Tom Brandstätter, Emily Brieger, David B. Brückner, Georg Ladurner, Joachim Rädler, Chase P. Broedersz. 2024-07-24. Data-driven theory reveals protrusion and polarity interactions governing collision behavior of distinct motile cells. https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.17268

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