Random traction yielding transition in epithelial tissues

Published in Phys. Rev. Lett., 2023

Abstract:

We investigate how randomly oriented cell traction forces lead to fluidisation in a vertex model of epithelial tissues. We find that the fluidisation occurs at a critical value of the traction force magnitude $F_c$. We show that this transition exhibits critical behaviour, similar to the yielding transition of sheared amorphous solids. However, we find that it belongs to a different universality class, even though it satisfies the same scaling relations between critical exponents established in the yielding transition of sheared amorphous solids. Our work provides a fluidisation mechanism through active force generation that could be relevant in biological tissues.

Recommended citation: "Random traction yielding transition in epithelial tissues", A. Amiri, C. Duclut, F. Jülicher, M. Popović, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 188401 (2023). https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.188401