C. elegans colony formation as a condensation phenomenon

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 4947
• Main Authors: Chen, Yuping, Ferrell, James E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 16-08-2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 119/118; 14/63; 631/553/2694; 631/553/2717; 64/11; Biological activity; Biology; Colonies; Differential equations; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Nematodes; Ordinary differential equations; Organisms; Ostwald ripening; Phase separation; Population density; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Worms
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25244-9

Phase separation at the molecular scale affects many biological processes. The theoretical requirements for phase separation are fairly minimal, and there is growing evidence that analogous phenomena occur at other scales in biology. Here we examine colony formation in the nematode
C
.
elegans
as a possible example of phase separation by a population of organisms. The population density of worms determines whether a colony will form in a thresholded fashion, and a simple two-compartment ordinary differential equation model correctly predicts the threshold. Furthermore, small, round colonies sometimes fuse to form larger, round colonies, and a phenomenon akin to Ostwald ripening – a coarsening process seen in many systems that undergo phase separation – also occurs. These findings support the emerging view that the principles of microscopic phase separation can also apply to collective behaviors of living organisms.
Phase separation phenomena have emerged as being of critical importance in biology. Here, using colony formation in
C. elegans
as model, the authors demonstrate that the basic concepts that underpin phase separation at a molecular level also apply to collective phenomena at the level of a population of organisms.