Collective Dynamics of Dividing Chemotactic Cells

TL;DR

This paper investigates the large-scale behavior of dividing chemotactic cells using renormalization group methods, revealing phase transitions influenced by growth and chemical interactions, with implications for understanding tissue dynamics and cancer metastasis.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework combining chemotactic interactions and cell growth, uncovering phase behavior and critical phenomena relevant to biological systems.

Findings

Identifies a sharp phase transition between controlled and uncontrolled growth regimes.

Determines nontrivial critical exponents at the transition point.

Suggests implications for understanding cancer metastasis and tissue dynamics.

Abstract

The large scale behaviour of a population of cells that grow and interact through the concentration field of the chemicals they secrete is studied using dynamical renormalization group methods. The combination of the effective long-range chemotactic interaction and lack of number conservation leads to a rich variety of phase behaviour in the system, which includes a sharp transition from a phase that has moderate (or controlled) growth and regulated chemical interactions to a phase with strong (or uncontrolled) growth and no chemical interactions. The transition point has nontrivial critical exponents. Our results might help shed light on the interplay between chemical signalling and growth in tissues and colonies, and in particular on the challenging problem of cancer metastasis.