Cell scale mechanics of super competition in epithelial tissue

Cell competition is the phenomenon by which cells attempt to eliminate less fit cells through various mechanisms of fitness comparison in order to maintain homeostasis. These mechanisms have been used to describe how a tissue sustains healthy function through embryogenesis, morphogenesis, and aging. Cell competition has also been implicated as a primary mechanism by which some diseases, most notably cancer, function by furthering the proliferation of diseased cells at the expense of the organism's overall fitness. Here we develop a Cellular Potts Model framework to predict the patterns of cell proliferation and elimination within a tissue comprised of normal wild type cells and mutations. We connect single-cell mechanics and cell-cell interactions to tissue-level survivability in the context of competition. Our model incorporates probabilistic rules governing cell growth, division, and elimination, while also taking into account their feedback with tissue mechanics. With these rules and model parameters, we predict how tissue mechanics influence fitness and proliferation dynamics, and how single-cell physical properties influence the spatiotemporal patterns of tumor growth.