Skip to main content
Log in

Tissue biophysics

Symmetry depends on scale in cellular monolayers

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Physics

View current issue Submit your manuscript

The liquid-crystal-like order of cells in epithelial tissues aids rearrangements, but there is disagreement over the dominant liquid crystal phase. Now, a unified approach reveals that two distinct symmetries dominate at different scales.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: Liquid crystalline order and defects in cell layers.

References

  1. Armengol-Collado, J.-M. et al. Nat. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02179-0 (2023).

  2. Friedl, P. & Gilmour, D. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 10, 445–457 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Saw, T. B. et al. Nature 544, 212–216 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Maroudas-Sacks, Y. et al. Nat. Phys. 17, 251–259 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Duclos, G. et al. Nat. Phys. 13, 58–62 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kawaguchi, K. et al. Nature 545, 327–331 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Li, Y.-W. & Ciamarra, M. P. Phys. Rev. Mater. 2, 045602 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Durand, M. & Heu, J. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 188001 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Halperin, B. I. & Nelson, D. R. Phys. Rev. Lett. 41, 121–124 (1978).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Beller.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Beller, D. Symmetry depends on scale in cellular monolayers. Nat. Phys. 19, 1767–1768 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02167-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02167-4

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation