Symbiotic Cell Differentiation and Cooperative Growth in Multicellular Aggregates.

ABSTRACT: As cells grow and divide under a given environment, they become crowded and resources are limited, as seen in bacterial biofilms and multicellular aggregates. These cells often show strong interactions through exchanging chemicals, as evident in quorum sensing, to achieve mutualism and division of labor. Here, to achieve stable division of labor, three characteristics are required. First, isogenous cells differentiate into several types. Second, this aggregate of distinct cell types shows better growth than that of isolated cells without interaction and differentiation, by achieving division of labor. Third, this cell aggregate is robust with respect to the number distribution of differentiated cell types. Indeed, theoretical studies have thus far considered how such cooperation is achieve

SUBMITTER: Yamagishi JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5066942 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature