| Abstract: |
| Epithelial cells adhere tightly, forming a polygonal lattice. The resulting cell packing exhibits striking universal regularities, regardless of the organism and organ. Several theories have been formulated to explain epithelial organisation, but none explains Lewis` almost 100-year-old observation of a linear relationship between the average number of cell neighbours and the average apical cell area. We define the physical driving forces that lead to the emergence of Lewis` law, and that more generally explain apical epithelial organisation. Our work provides a link between epithelial organisation, cell division, and growth, and establishes computational frameworks such as LBIBCell as appropriate tools to simulate epithelial dynamics. |
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