Contact-induced differential persistence as a mechanism for cell sorting
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Cell sorting corresponds to the spatial organisation of cells by type or function, which is central to tissue morphogenesis and arises from the interplay of mechanical, biochemical, and cellular processes. While variations in cell motility are known to influence sorting, the mechanisms by which cell-cell interactions drive symmetric or asymmetric segregation remain poorly understood. Using co-cultures of genetically modified HEK293 cells, we uncover a sorting mechanism based on heterotypic contact-induced differential persistence. This causes a temporary increase in the persistence of motion of a cell of one type after interacting with a cell of another type. Through theoretical modelling and numerical simulations, we demonstrate that this mechanism alone can drive sorting and break the symmetry of the segregation dynamics, and that the degree of sorting is maximized for an optimal duration of the enhanced persistence state. Furthermore, we show that differential persistence can work in synergy with other motility-based mechanisms to enhance sorting, even under crowded conditions. These results show that persistence, independent of self-propulsion speed, can drive segregation, providing a minimal physical framework for sorting in cellular systems and active matter.
Date Issued
2026-06-15
Date Acceptance
2026-03-27
Citation
Communications Physics, 2026, 9
ISSN
2399-3650
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
Communications Physics
Volume
9
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Identifier
10.1038/s42005-026-02619-2
Subjects
Bothe
M.
Poliakov
A.
Lardet
E. et al. Contactinduced differential persistence as a mechanism for cell sorting. Commun Phys (2026)
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 204
Date Publish Online
2026-04-13