Start small: A model for tissue-wide planar cell polarity without morphogens

Planar cell polarity (PCP) is an important patterning mechanism in both vertebrates and invertebrates by which cells coherently polarize along the apical surface of the epithelium. This patterning mechanism acts upstream of many developmental processes, such as oriented growth, division, cell movements and orientation of body hairs. While various models have been proposed to explain PCP patterning, all rely on persistent global cues/gradients to obtain global orientation of large tissues. However, recent experimental work has shown that this process can happen independently of such global cues, challenging the current paradigm. In this work, we developed a new model for PCP using the Cellular Potts modelling framework to investigate the conditions under which global tissue orientation can be achieved without a tissue spanning morphogen. We found that a combination of a local boundary signal, a small initial tissue size and uniform proliferation can effectively establish long-range polarity without the need for global cues. We also investigated the impact of cell division planes and growth rates on final patterning. Finally, we compared the cell-autonomous and cell non-autonomous versions of our PCP model, as found in flies and mice, and found that the latter offers more robust patterning outcomes in the absence of gradients.