Figure 1. Cytoplasmic phase separation and tissue dynamics as active matter. a) In many distinct types of cells, certain proteins can phase separate from the cytosol to assemble membrane-free organelles, such as the stress granules (yellow drops) shown here in human epithelial cells (HeLa) [6], akin to oil drop formation in an oil-water mixture (b). c) In a monolayer of Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cells, the cells in the tissue can undergo dynamical rearrangement as shown by the snapshot of the velocity field shown in (d) [7]. Figure a) is adapted from [J.R. Wheeler et al., eLife vol. 5, pp. e18413, 2018], licensed under CC BY 4.0. Figure b): c©Nikola Bilic, Dreamstime.com. Figures c) and d) reprinted from Biophysical Journal, vol. 98, Petitjean et al., Velocity fields in a collectively migrating epithelium, pp. 1790-1800, Copyright (2010), with permission from Elsevier.
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