Biomechanical Feedback Strengthens Jammed Cellular Packings.

Abstract

Growth in confined spaces can drive cellular populations through a jamming transition from a fluidlike state to a solidlike state. Experiments have found that jammed budding yeast populations can build up extreme compressive pressures (over 1MPa), which in turn feed back onto cellular physiology by slowing or even stalling cell growth. Using numerical simulations, we investigate how this feedback impacts the mechanical properties of model jammed cell populations. We find that feedback directs growth toward poorly coordinated regions, resulting in an excess number of cell-cell contacts that rigidify cell packings. Cell packings possess anomalously large shear and bulk moduli that depend sensitively on the strength of feedback. These results demonstrate that mechanical feedback on the single-cell level is a simple mechanism by which living systems may tune their population-level mechanical properties.