Colloquium: Molecular and Cellular Patterns

Living systems are made from a large quantity of elementary units, such as molecules and cells. These elementary units have to work collectively to achieve desired functions, which often require formation of specific structures. In this presentation, we will introduce the collective behaviors in three biological systems: the collective oscillation in a fruit fly’s embryo, the collective migration of cells on epithelium, and the collective treadmilling in a bacterial cell division ring. We will show that the achievement of these collective dynamics is closely related to the critical transitions in physics. And the established patterns are essential for the robust delivery of regulatory signals across a length scale that is beyond the reach of diffusion.