Developmentally driven order-disorder transition in chiral living crystals

ORAL

Abstract

Living matter exhibits complex non-equilibrium behavior. Here, we report on the formation of chiral crystals of starfish embryos which undergo autonomous order-disorder transitions. Embryos form a stable bound state at the water-air interface and hydrodynamically self-assemble into 2D crystals with hexagonal order. Time reversal asymmetry leads to emergence of chiral waves and dissipationless mechanical response. Remarkably, as a function of developmental time, these 2D crystals undergo an order-disorder transition characterized by progressive loss of translational and orientational order. Our hydrodynamic model elucidates how near field interactions can lead to the experimentally observed emergent dynamics.

*This work was supported by the NSF-Simons Center for Mathematical and Statistical Analysis of Biology at Harvard (award number #1764269), the Harvard Quantitative Biology Initiative and NSF CAREER Award (#1848247).

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Presenters

  • Tzer Han Tan

    • Quantitative Biology Initiative, Harvard University

Authors

  • Tzer Han Tan

    • Quantitative Biology Initiative, Harvard University

  • Hugh Higinbotham

    • Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Alexander Mietke

    • MIT
    • Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Yuchao Chen

    • Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT

  • Peter Foster

    • Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Shreyas Gokhale

    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Jorn Dunkel

    • Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Mathematics, MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Nikta Fakhri

    • Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology