Cell signalling is essential for cell fate determination and tissue patterning. As signalling ligands are presented to the receiving cell, they are recruited and recognised by the cell membrane as to elicit a biological response and to pattern multicellular tissues. Cells can accumulate and transport these ligands, which results in an emergent organisation of the ligands’ spatial distribution. To study this organisation, we make use of a simplified experimental setup, in which single mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) can interact with immobilized ligands. We introduce a two species age-dependent correlation function that allows the description and quantification of the spatio-temporal dynamics of single cell-ligand interactions. Through the analysis of mESC data and numerical simulations we show that cells act as effective force-field generators, perturbing and organising their environment. This organisation, captured in the form of an ageing effective potential, is an emergent property of the population of single cells interacting with randomly distributed localized ligands.

中文翻译：

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单干细胞与局部配体相互作用的有效潜力描述

细胞信号对于确定细胞命运和组织模式至关重要。当信号配体呈现给接收细胞时，它们被募集并被细胞膜识别以引发生物学反应并构图多细胞组织。细胞可以积累和运输这些配体，从而导致配体的空间分布出现新的组织。为了研究该组织，我们利用简化的实验设置，其中单个小鼠胚胎干细胞（mESC）可以与固定的配体相互作用。我们介绍了两种依赖于年龄的相关函数，该函数允许描述和量化单个细胞-配体相互作用的时空动态。通过对mESC数据的分析和数值模拟，我们显示出细胞可作为有效的力场发生器，扰乱和组织他们的环境。以衰老有效电位的形式捕获的该组织是与随机分布的局部配体相互作用的单细胞群体的新兴特性。