Competing cells: Cleaning up after yourself brings benefits

When different cell types compete in a confined space, those which remove debris faster have a better chance to dominate their environment. Researchers showed in a new model that not only a higher net proliferation rate, but also the swift removal of dead cells provides a competitive advantage. They mixed two cell populations only differing in debris removal rate and showed that already after a few generations the population with the higher removal rate starts to dominate the confined space.