Authors
Nathan Hervieux, Mathilde Dumond, Aleksandra Sapala, Anne-Lise Routier-Kierzkowska, Daniel Kierzkowski, Adrienne HK Roeder, Richard S Smith, Arezki Boudaoud, Olivier Hamant
Publication date
2016/4/25
Journal
Current biology
Volume
26
Issue
8
Pages
1019-1028
Publisher
Elsevier
Description
How organs reach their final shape is a central yet unresolved question in developmental biology. Here we investigate whether mechanical cues contribute to this process. We analyze the epidermal cells of the Arabidopsis sepal, focusing on cortical microtubule arrays, which align along maximal tensile stresses and restrict growth in that direction through their indirect impact on the mechanical anisotropy of cell walls. We find a good match between growth and microtubule orientation throughout most of the development of the sepal. However, at the sepal tip, where organ maturation initiates and growth slows down in later stages, microtubules remain in a configuration consistent with fast anisotropic growth, i.e., transverse, and the anisotropy of their arrays even increases. To understand this apparent paradox, we built a continuous mechanical model of a growing sepal. The model demonstrates that differential …
Scholar articles
N Hervieux, M Dumond, A Sapala… - Current biology, 2016