@article { 99,
	title = {The Emergence of Geometric Order in Proliferating Metazoan Epithelia},
	journal = {Nature},
	volume = {442},
	number = {7106},
	year = {2006},
	note = {PDF - Supplement - Perspective},
	abstract = {The predominantly hexagonal cell pattern of simple epithelia was noted in the earliest microscopic analyses of animal tissues1, a topology commonly thought to reflect cell sorting into optimally packed honeycomb arrays2. Here we use a discrete Markov model validated by time-lapse microscopy and clonal analysis to demonstrate that the distribution of polygonal cell types in epithelia is not a result of cell packing, but rather a direct mathematical consequence of cell proliferation. On the basis of\&nbsp;in vivo\&nbsp;analysis of mitotic cell junction dynamics in\&nbsp;Drosophila\&nbsp;imaginal discs, we mathematically predict the convergence of epithelial topology to a fixed equilibrium distribution of cellular polygons. This distribution is empirically confirmed in tissue samples from vertebrate, arthropod and cnidarian organisms, suggesting that a similar proliferation-dependent cell pattern underlies pattern formation and morphogenesis throughout the metazoa.},
	author = {Gibson, Matthew and Ankit Patel and Radhika Nagpal and Perrimon, Norbert}
}
