Cell-alignment patterns in the collective migration of cells with polarized adhesion

Abstract

Dictyostelium discoideum (Dd) utilizes inhomogeneities in the distribution of cell-cell adhesion molecules on cell membranes for collective cell migration. A simple example of an inhomogeneity is a front-side (leading-edge) polarization in the distribution at the early streaming stage. Experiments have shown that the polarized cell-cell adhesion induces side-by-side contact between cells [Beug et al., Nature (London) 274, 445 (1978)NATUAS0028-083610.1038/274445a0]. This result is counterintuitive, as one would expect cells to align front to front in contact with each other on the basis of front-side polarization. In this work, we theoretically examine whether front-side polarization induces side-by-side contact in collective cell migration. We construct a model for expressing cells with this polarization based on the two-dimensional cellular Potts model. By a numerical simulation with this model, we find cell-cell alignment wherein cells form lateral arrays with side-by-side contacts as observed in the experiments.