Long-range Ordering of Vibrated Disks

The emergence of collective motion in fish schools and bird flocks constitutes a ubiquitous and fascinating phenomenon in nature. One reason might be the emergence of highly dynamic, coherently moving spatial patterns such as clusters, swirls or waves, and the fact that the patterns commonly extend over length scales much larger than the size of the individuals. more

Establishment of a robust single axis of cell polarity by coupling multiple positive feedback loops

Establishment of cell polarity—or symmetry breaking—relies on local accumulation of polarity regulators. Although simple positive feedback is sufficient to drive symmetry breaking, it is highly sensitive to stochastic fluctuations typical for living cells. Here, by integrating mathematical modelling with quantitative experimental validations, we show that in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae a combination of actin- and guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor-dependent recycling of the central polarity regulator Cdc42 is needed to establish robust cell polarity at a single site during yeast budding. more