2025/04/23 by Pierre A. Haas, Haas, Pierre A. · 1 voice · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · #cond-mat.soft #physics.bio-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/kdnb-bxdx
The flows of tissues of epithelial cells often involve T1 transitions. These neighbour exchanges are irreversible rearrangements crossing an energy barrier. Here, by an exact geometric construction, I determine this energy barrier for general, isolated T1 transitions dominated by line tensions. I~show how deviations from regular cell packing reduce this energy barrier, but find that line tension fluctuations increase it on average. By another exact construction, I prove that the nonlinear tensions in vertex models of tissues also resist T1 transitions. My results thus form the basis for coarse-grained understanding of cell neighbour exchanges for continuum descriptions of epithelia.