https://www.welt.de/newsticker/news1/article175885722/Leute-Schwedische-Kultband-Abba-fuer-zwei-Songs-wiedervereint.html

Scientists at the IST Austria have found that the fastest growing cell in the eggs of zebra fish inhibits its neighbors using mechanical signals.

“The winner takes it all, the loser’s standing small” – this quote from the famous song by the Swedish pop group ABBA also applies to the development of animals. At the beginning of their development, all cells in a tissue are the same. But then a cell slows down its neighbors through sending signals that inhibit development. In the end, this cell develops differently than its neighbors. It grows faster and inhibits the growth of its neighbors by squeezing them together. Furthermore, an important signaling protein, TAZ, is significantly downregulated. In this way a single cell is generated which later plays an important role in the fertilization of the egg.

In further experiments, the researchers cut this “winning cell” out of the tissue to observe what happens in its absence. In the cells previously inhibited and compressed by the winning cell, the corresponding protein, TAZ, is expressed again and they began to compete again. One cell got bigger and bigger, “won the race” and became the new “winner cell”.

This reflects the natural process: if a strong “winning cell” is switched off, another cell takes on its role by growing quickly again and compressing its neighbors.