#22 · Systems biology

Vertex models link cell division, adhesion, and microtubules to tissue shape

The common thread is vertex-based mechanical modeling of how cell-scale properties determine tissue-scale geometry. A vertex-based in silico model of growing cell collectives shows that division-driven contact rearrangement shapes heterogeneous contact-mediated signal output. A multiscale plant framework couples a dynamic vertex tissue-mechanics model with stochastic cortical microtubule dynamics to simulate growth anisotropy. A published computational model of intercellular adhesion and polarity reduces morphogenesis to two parameters, polarity strength and mechanically regulated polarity. What is new is explicit coupling across scales, from cortical microtubules and division-driven contact changes to tissue shape. The thread is dominant rather than universal, since the adhesion-polarity model is reduced to two parameters rather than built on vertex-level mechanics.