365

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Issue 365: Complex tissue shapes emerge from thedynamic interplay between morphogen patterning and cellular growth. Although local interactions occur at the cellular scale, coordinated collective dynamics can drive the emergence of stable, self-regulated tissue morphology. We demonstrated this concept using a new model of cells that can grow, divide, and dye in response to diffusible morphogen signals while actively shaping the spatial domain in which those signals act, forming a closed regulatory feedback loop. The top row illustrates the dynamics of amorphogen source (red cell), establishing a radial concentration gradient that regulates cell growth, resulting in the emergence of a circular tissue shape where Turing-like patterns can form. The bottom row shows how stable shapes can form and regeneratewhen the Turing pattern directly regulates cell growth, closing the loop between growth signals and tissue shape. This work highlights how regulatory feedback loops between morphogen gradients, patterning, and growth can produce stable tissue shapes during development and regeneration.The picture shows a snapshot of the animation.