To gain a conceptual understanding of how tension in mitotic cells evolves relative to the tension in interphase cells and in the tissue, we devised a simple computational model of the monolayer as a purely elastic 2D material in which cells have a preset active tension and rigidity. By varying tension, rigidity and position of the boundaries, we aim to reproduce a range of experimental conditions and characterize the distribution of stress in the viscinity of the mitotic cell. The simulated scenarios are:
- monolayer in its initial configuration clamped at both ends is subjected to a tensile stress due to cell contractility
- the monoalyer with internal cell contractility is compressed
- the internal contractility is increased while the monolayer is under a compressive state
- the internal contractility of a clamped monolayer is reduced
- the monolayer with reduced contractility is stretched
- Install Julia (latest tested version 1.8.2)
- Set the parameters in the "Main" section of the main.jl file (e.g. n: number of steps for the simulation - if one of the parameter varies; param1: EA, where E is the Young's modulus and A the cross section area; param2: displacement of the two ends, param3: prestress)
- Change filename and figname with the directory where the images and tensors .txt files will be saved
- Run the main.jl file in REPL as include("main.jl")
"Tension at intercellular junctions is necessary for accurate orientation of cell division in the epithelium plane" Ana Lisica, Jonathan Fouchard, Manasi Kelkar, Tom P. J. Wyatt, Julia Duque, Anne-Betty Ndiaye, Alessandra Bonfanti, Buzz Baum, Alexandre J. Kabla, Guillaume T. Charras
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.30.478396v1.full