In February 2023, British scholar Enrico Coen et alscienceThe study combines experimental analysis and computational models to reveal how plants affect cellulose at the cell wall, cellular, and tissue levels to produce complex plant morphological mechanisms, providing new insights into current plant morphogenesis.
doi : 10.1126/science.ade8055
Four levels of plant morphological development
Fiber layer. Cell wall level.
Cellular level. Organizational level.
Figure 1From macroscopic to micro** plant morphological development.
The cell wall is the basis for plant morphological development and diversity, and the stress resistance of plant tissues is largely determined by the arrangement of fibers in the cell wall.
Figure 2One-dimensional diagram of plant fiber growth.
Given the proportionality between cell wall stress and fiber stress, the stress of the fiber can be estimated from the strain of cellular components (such as the plasma membrane or cortex) that deform along with the cell wall.
Figure 3Plant fiber stress simulation test.
Hemicellulose in plant cells binds strongly to the fiber surface, while pectin binds weakly to the cellulose surface, but experiments have shown that pectin can control cell wall hardness. The growth direction of cell growth in plant morphomorphism depends on the three-dimensional structure of the cell wall, and the direction of microfibrils (the structural unit of the cell wall) with the greatest stress extends the longest.
Figure 4Schematic diagram of mechanical growth of plant cell wall.
Figure 5Two-dimensional diagram of plant cell wall growth.
Figure 6Schematic diagram of plant cell wall growth columnar.
The morphogenesis of multicellular tissues depends not only on the characteristics of individual cells, but also on the mechanical interactions between them, and directed tissue growth can be produced by coordinating growth anisotropy between cells, such as increasing the elongation of the cell wall or selectively weakening the axial cell wall.
Figure 7Multicellular interactions.
The study from:The fiber, cell wall, cell, and tissue levels reveal the mechanisms underlying plant morphogenesisAlthough the basic mechanisms by which this behavior occurs have been outlined, many underlying molecular mechanisms remain to be addressed. At the same time, it is proposed that the principle of plant morphogenesis can be extended to the study of microbial and animal development to a certain extent.
doi : 10.1126/science.ade8055