Figure 1.

Examples of self-assembled cellular morphologies produced by the in silico model. (a) Alternating segmented discotic state, which appears when like cells repel (i.e., blue cells repel blue cells and red cells repel red cells) and unlike cells attract (i.e., when red cells attract blue cells). Note that, surprisingly, compact clusters of like cells form despite their mutual repulsion, and unlike cells can become separated (arrow) despite their attraction (see text). (b) Homoclusters are produced when like cells attract and unlike cells repel. (c) Hemiclusters are seen when like and unlike cells attract, with like attraction stronger than unlike. (d) Heteroclusters of mixed cell types appear when like and unlike strengths between cells are equally attractive. (e and f) Shish-kebab states can appear when like cells repel more strongly than unlike cells attract. (g) Traditional enveloped states appear when one species (blue) attracts more strongly than another (red). Arrows in f identify examples of cells in contact with like neighbors but separated from unlike cells. Parameter choices needed to produce states (a–f) are defined in Fig. 4.