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The mechanics of tip
growth morphogenesis: what we have learned from rubber
balloons
Roberto Bernal, Enrique R. Rojas and Jacques Dumais |
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Vol. 2 (2007), No. 6, 1157–1168
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Abstract |
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Morphogenesis of plant, fungal, and bacterial cells depends heavily on surface mechanics and in particular on the stiff wall that surrounds these cells. In this paper, we show that tubular rubber balloons offer a useful physical model of tip growth morphogenesis. In particular, the balloons reproduce accurately the inhomogeneity and anisotropy of surface expansion observed during tip growth. Comparison between the two systems has led to a simple model of tip growth that assumes linear constitutive relations with inhomogeneous material properties. The strain rate profile predicted by the model is a surprisingly good fit to the data given the model’s simplicity. We suggest that a meridional gradient of compliance or extensibility is the key mechanical feature that explains the similar strain rate profiles in tip-growing cells across broad taxonomic groups as well as in rubber balloon analogs. |
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\centerline\vbox\hsize=.75\hsize \leftskip0pt \vskip14pt\it If you can't demonstrate it with balloons, it's probably not important anyway. \hfill\vskip3pt\hfill \normalfont Stephen A. Wainwright, quoted in \citeVogel2003. |
Keywords
anisotropy, cell morphogenesis, inhomogeneity, rubber
balloon, thin pressurized shell, tip growth
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Milestones
Received: 7 May 2007
Accepted: 8 May 2007
Published: 1 August 2007
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Authors |
| Roberto Bernal | |
| Department of Organismic and
Evolutionary Biology Harvard University 16 Divinity Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138 United States |
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| Enrique R. Rojas | |
| Department of Physics Harvard University 17 Oxford St. Cambridge, MA 02138 United States |
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| Jacques Dumais | |
| Department of Organismic and
Evolutionary Biology Harvard University 16 Divinity Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138 United States |
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