Physical forces regulate plant development and morphogenesis.
Plant cells in tissues experience mechanical stress not only as a result of high turgor, but also through interaction with their neighbors. Cells can expand at different rates and in different directions from neighbors with which they share a cell wall. This in connection with specific tissue shapes and properties of the cell wall material can lead to intricate stress patterns throughout the tissue. Two cellular responses to mechanical stress are a microtubule cytoskeletal response that directs new wall synthesis so as to resist stress, and a hormone transporter response that regulates transport of the hormone auxin, a regulator of cell expansion. Shape changes in plant tissues affect the pattern of stresses in the tissues, and at the same time, via the cellular stress responses, the pattern of stresses controls cell growth, which in turn changes tissue shape, and stress pattern. This feedback loop controls plant morphogenesis, and explains several previously mysterious aspects of plant growth.
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Arun
A
Sampathkumar
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
An
A
Yan
Computational Biology and Biological Physics, Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, Lund University, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden.
Pawel
P
Krupinski
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. Electronic address: elliot.meyerowitz@gmail.com.
Elliot M
EM
Meyerowitz
D001692:Biological Transport; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism; D009024:Morphogenesis; D059828:Plant Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D063245:Plant Development; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000378:metabolism*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
D010937:Plant Growth Regulators