Proliferation of individual cells is one of the hallmarks of living systems, and collectively the cells within a colony or tissue form highly structured patterns, influencing the properties at the population level. We investigate the joint effect of proliferation in the form of cell division and cell sorting due to differential adhesion using a cellular automaton model. Through simulations and theoretical analysis akin to interface growth, we show that this model gives rise to slower than exponential growth in the case of a single cell type as well as novel colony patterns in the case of two cell types. In particular, engulfment of one cell type by the other is strongly enhanced compared to the prediction from the differential adhesion hypothesis in the absence of proliferation. These observations provide new insights in predicting and characterizing colony morphology using experimentally accessible information such as single cell growth rate and cell adhesion strength.

中文翻译：

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差异粘附和细胞增殖下菌落模式形成的模拟

单个细胞的增殖是生命系统的标志之一，菌落或组织内的细胞共同形成高度结构化的模式，从而影响种群水平的特性。我们调查使用细胞自动机模型的差异粘附导致的细胞分裂和细胞分选形式的增殖的联合效应。通过类似于接口生长的模拟和理论分析，我们表明，在单个细胞类型的情况下，该模型的增长速度比指数增长慢；在两种细胞类型的情况下，模型的增长速度比新颖的集落模式慢。特别地，与在不存在增殖的情况下根据差异粘附假设进行的预测相比，一种细胞类型被另一种细胞类型的吞噬大大增强。