title: Shrinking the hammer: micromechanical approaches to morphogenesis.
abstract: Morphogenesis, the remarkable process by which a developing organism achieves its shape, relies on the coordinated growth of cells, tissues, and organs. While the molecular and genetic basis of morphogenesis is starting to be unravelled, understanding shape changes is lagging behind. Actually, shape is imposed by the structural elements of the organism, and the translation of cellular activity into morphogenesis must go through these elements. Therefore, many methods have been developed recently to quantify, at cellular resolution, the properties of the main structural element in plants, the cell wall. As plant cell growth is restrained by the cell wall and powered by turgor pressure, such methods also address the quantification of turgor. These different micromechanical approaches are reviewed here, with a critical assessment of their strengths and weaknesses, and a discussion of how they can help us understand the regulation of growth and morphogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Reproduction et Développement des Plantes, INRA, CNRS, ENS de Lyon, UCBL Lyon I, 46 Allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France.
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Milani
authors.forename: Siobhan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Braybrook
authors.forename: Arezki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boudaoud
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000502:physiology*; D004548:Elasticity; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D059828:Plant Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D063245:Plant Development; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000502:physiology; D011312:Pressure; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014783:Viscosity
keywords: Atomic force microscopy; biomechanics; cell wall; growth control; indentation; morphogenesis; pressure probe; turgor pressure.