Fig. 2

Synchronised cycling instructs multiple facets of multicellular self-organisation. a β-Catenin functions as a coupler of cycling cells. This is because the transcriptional activity of free cytoplasmic catenin-β1 in driving cell cycle is counterbalanced by recruitment of this protein into cadherin-based intercellular junctions. Enahnced coupling stringency (presence of neighbouring cells) leads to expansion of G0/G1 phase of cell cycle and subsequent synchronized progression into interphase at a population level. b Synchronised cell division leads to radial growth as opposed to tangential growth instructed by asynchronised cell division