Biology subjects

Guerrero, P.

Publications and source records attributed to Guerrero, P..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Emergence of travelling wave patterns in resource-mediated tissue competition

The study of tissue dynamics has been stimulated during the last decades thanks to the use of quantitative descriptions, with the development of several theoretical and computational frameworks, many of them revolving around the notion of reaction-diffusion systems, eventually with additional structure variables beyond time and space. The use of structure variables can accommodate phenotypic traits. In this work, we study a family of competition models, where a given population depends on a resource (e.g. oxygen) and several populations are competing for it. Our quantitative description incorporates phenotypic traits and heterogeneity at the level of cell cycle variations, which influence replication rates via oxygen consumption. This enables us to replicate the fitness of specific subpopulations to environmental conditions (e.g. oxygen shortage or external influences). Using numerical simulations, we show that such models display dynamical pattern formation in the form of coupled travelling wave profiles that expand or retreat at the same wave speed. The full theoretical analysis of such dynamics is quite involved; to circumvent this difficulty, we introduce a quasi-stationary approximation for the resource dynamics. We find that this approximation can reproduce the overall behaviour very accurately, with the additional benefit of allowing theoretical treatment of the reduced model. In this way, we provide estimates on the wave speed which are numerically shown to be robust across a wide range of macroscopic parameters of the full model. The wave speeds are thus found to depend strongly on the proliferation rate of the fittest population, resembling a winner-takes-all dynamics.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2026

Spatial clustering of adhesion-deficient cells controlsepithelial rigidity transitions

Epithelial tissues maintain mechanical integrity through a balance between cell-cell adhesion and cortical contractility. Disruption of E-cadherin-mediated adhesion is a hallmark of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer progression; yet how local adhesion defects propagate to tissue-scale mechanical changes remains poorly understood. Here, we use a two-dimensional vertex model (varying mutant cell fraction, spatial arrangement, and initial tissue disorder) to investigate how adhesion-deficient cells regulate epithelial mechanics. We show that increasing the fraction of mutant cells drives the tissue towards geometric signatures associated with reduced mechanical rigidity, characterised by elevated cellular shape index and increased prevalence of non-hexagonal cells. Crucially, spatial organisation acts as an independent structural variable that modulates tissue mechanics beyond mutant fraction alone. For identical mutant fractions, randomly distributed mutants undergo rapid, spatially isolated T2-mediated removal events producing only transient shape-index perturbations. Clustered mutants, by contrast, undergo sequential boundary removal, delaying elimination and sustaining elevated shape index in the surrounding tissue. This persistent elevation induces topological disorder within the local neighbourhood that outlasts mutant clearance itself. Our results establish spatial organisation as a key determinant of epithelial rigidity transitions, with implications for understanding early-stage cancer progression.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2024

Comparative proteomic analysis of the composition of decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) and dECM-based inks as compared to the native tissue

Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering approaches based on the use of 3D-bioprinted decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) present the advantage of a relatively biomolecule-rich matrix, which directs cell growth and differentiation in a tissue-specific manner. However, little is known about the composition changes that occur with standard processing of dECM-based inks. To characterize this process, six porcine tissues/tissue layers (artery, breast, dermis, epidermis, muscle and nerve) were independently decellularized via chemical, mechanical and enzymatic processes and the resulting dECMs formulated into biocompatible inks, to serve as source biomaterials for 3D printing. A comparative liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-based proteomic analysis was carried out for native tissue, decellularized and formulated ECMs, and the resulting complexity of the matrisome analyzed. A core matrisome was found to overlap in all decellularized tissues, as well as tissue-specific components that correlated with predicted functional (gene ontology-based) definitions. The proportion of collagens (mostly the 1 chains of collagen type I and III) increased in the final processing step (inks) as compared to the native ECM and dECM stages. Overall, a median of 55 matrisomal proteins (range 45-126) was detected in the dECM-derived inks. This complexity is far superior in terms of mimicking the composition of native tissue to non-dECM-based inks. Our results support the use of dECM-based inks and biomaterials in mimicking native tissue ECM complexity, demonstrating tissue-specific composition, which can improve future therapeutic approximations.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2022

Choice of friction coefficient deeply affects tissue behaviour in epithelial vertex models

To understand the mechanisms that coordinate the formation of biological tissues, the use of numerical implementations is necessary. The complexity of such models involves many assumptions and parameter choices that result in unpredictable consequences, obstructing the comparison with experimental data. Here we focus on vertex models, a family of spatial models used extensively to simulate the dynamics of epithelial tissues. Usually, in the literature, the choice of the friction coefficient is not addressed using quasi-static deformation arguments that generally do not apply to realistic scenarios. In this manuscript, we discuss the role that the choice of friction coefficient has on the relaxation times and consequently in the conditions of cell cycle progression and division. We explore the effects that these changes have on the morphology, growth rate, and topological transitions of the tissue dynamics. These results provide a deeper understanding of the role that an accurate mechanical description plays in the use of vertex models as inference tools.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Neuronal differentiation affects tissue mechanics and progenitor arrangement in the vertebrate neuroepithelium

Cell division, movement and differentiation contribute to pattern formation in developing tissues. This is the case in the vertebrate neural tube where neurons differentiate in a characteristic pattern from a highly dynamic proliferating pseudostratified epithelium. To investigate how progenitor proliferation and differentiation affect cell arrangement and growth of the neural tube, we use experimental measurements to develop a mechanical model of the apical surface of the neuroepithelium that incorporates inter-kinetic nuclear movement and spatially varying rates of neuronal differentiation. Simulations predict that tissue growth and the shape of lineage-related clones of cells differ with the rate of differentiation. Growth is isotropic in regions of high differentiation, but dorsoventrally biased in regions of low differentiation. This is consistent with experimental observations. The absence of directional signalling in the simulations indicates that global mechanical constraints are sufficient to explain the observed differences in anisotropy. This provides insight into how the tissue growth rate affects cell dynamics and growth anisotropy and opens up possibilities to study the coupling between mechanics, pattern formation and growth in the neural tube.

developmental biology↗