Abstract. Time-resolved transcriptomic profiling has been used to study phage–host interactions for more than a decade. However, the resulting datasets are

Dense active materials, from cellular tissues to jammed and glassy systems, must continuously relieve internal mechanical stress to remain structurally stable as they are driven far from equilibrium. ...

Cell extrusion is a fundamental process in tissue homeostasis, morphogenesis, and cancer progression, facilitating the removal of cells either alive or through apoptosis. While biochemical signaling p...

Cell competition is a highly conserved mechanism through which cells with lower fitness levels than surrounding cells are actively removed from tissues. Differences in fitness may result from intrinsic tissue heterogeneity or be caused by differentiation, infections, or mutations. The resulting competition dynamics act as a key regulator of various biological processes during development and homeostasis. The underlying mechanical factors often remain unclear. Here, we discuss the biophysical principles of cell competition and elimination via extrusion or delamination. Recent advances have uncovered how fitness is determined by cellular mechanical properties, which can regulate winning or losing, and how cells use forces to outcompete each other. Furthermore, forces can influence the fate and direction of eliminated loser cells, which govern functional tissue development and disease progression.

Autorino et al. report a feedback loop between Nodal signalling and tissue phase transitions in zebrafish embryos. Nodal alters adhesion, triggering tissue rigidification and reduced porosity, which l...

Densely packed epithelial tissues appear mechanically arrested at tissue scale, but their cells move in subtle, coordinated ways.

Epithelia cover the body’s surface to form a barrier that segregates the internal body from the external environment. Tight junctions (TJs) seal the paracellular space and are crucial for the formatio...

Summary: Tissue material phase transitions are classically thought to regulate tissue deformability. This Review emphasises their unexpected roles in directly influencing growth and patterning signall...

Organ repair and growth rely on coupling tissue-wide membrane depolarization with intracellular proliferative signaling.

Intracellular transport of macromolecules is crucial for the proper functioning of most cellular processes. Although intracellular crowding is know...

The authors use 3D live imaging on micro-dissected human hair follicle segments cultured ex vivo to follow cellular migration patterns with single cell resolution. They provide evidence suggesting an ...

McCreery, Stubb et al. show that mechano-osmotic changes in the nucleus induce general transcriptional repression and prime chromatin for cell fate transitions by relieving repression of specific differentiation genes.