Coordination Funds

如何利用遗传信息来复制生物体的三维形状是生物学中一个长期存在的问题。形态发生是一个动态的过程，依赖于图案形成、细胞分裂和生长之间的相互作用。这也是一个多尺度的问题，即使在细胞尺度上对元素属性的微小修改也会转化为组织或器官尺度上的复杂结构变化。植物是研究生物形态产生机制的理想模型，因为它们不断地形成新的组织和器官。植物细胞的一个独特特征是它们不能移动，这是由于它们通过细胞壁与邻居的联系而产生的。这一特性构成了一个独特的挑战，需要植物细胞不断地调整它们彼此之间的行为。尽管近年来取得了显著的进展，但控制植物器官形状的机制仍然知之甚少。然而，生物学、计算机科学和物理学的最新进展现在为获得对组织形态发生的全面和定量的理解提供了新的和有希望的机会。植物的多学科研究单位(RU)将利用这些新的发展，研究以不同命运、细胞属性和生长模式为特征的细胞之间必要协调的本质和逻辑，这是组织形态发生的基础。为此，RU建立在三个高度相关的核心能力之上：生物学家将生成多维显微数据集，这些数据集将由专门从事分割和分类的计算机科学家进行严格分析。然后，相应的(派生的)定量数据将与计算机科学家和物理学家开发的多细胞计算模型相结合。最后，由此产生的生物学洞察力将构成新实验的基础。因此，这一RU汇集了一个独特的跨学科团队，专注于阐明对各种植物器官的功能至关重要的特定形式发展的潜在机制。通过建立在实验生物学家和理论计算机科学家之间的迭代交互作用的基础上，我们将能够制定和测试新的假设，从而更好地理解植物形态发生的核心原理。我们预计我们的RU将在三个层面上产生实质性影响：在科学水平上，它将评估哪些一般原理支撑植物形态发生。在资源层面，它将促进定量形态动力学新计算工具的开发和应用。在培训层面，它将促进一个新的年轻定量植物发育生物学家群体的发展，他们能够将传统的细胞和分子生物学与计算和物理方法相结合来解决生物学问题。

How genetic information is used to reproducibly generate the three-dimensional shape of an organism is a long-standing question in biology. Morphogenesis is a dynamic process that depends on the interplay between pattern formation, cell division, and growth. It is also a multi-scale problem in which even minor modifications of elemental attributes at the cell scale translate into complex structural changes at the tissue or organ scale. Plants represent the ideal models to study the mechanisms underlying the generation of biological form, since they continuously form new tissues and organs. A singular feature of plant cells is their immobility that results from their cell-wall-mediated connection to their neighbours. This property poses a unique challenge and requires plant cells to constantly adjust their behaviour relative to each other. Despite significant progress in recent years, the mechanisms controlling plant organ shape remain poorly understood. However, recent advances in the convergence of biology, computer sciences and physics now provide new and promising opportunities to gain a holistic and quantitative understanding of tissue morphogenesis. The multidisciplinary research unit (RU) Quantitative Morphodynamics of Plants will take advantage of these new developments and will investigate the nature and logic of the necessary coordination between cells characterised by different fates, cell attributes and growth patterns that underlies tissue morphogenesis. To this end the RU builds on three highly connected core competencies: The biologists will generate multi-dimensional microscopy data sets, which will be rigorously analysed by computer scientists, specializing in segmentation and classification. The corresponding (derived) quantitative data will then be integrated with multicellular computational models, developed by computer scientists and physicists. Finally, the resulting biological insight will form the basis of new experiments. Thus, this RU brings together a unique interdisciplinary team focused on elucidating the mechanisms underlying development of specific forms crucial to the function of diverse plant organs. By building on the iterative reciprocal interaction between experimental biologists and theoretical computer scientists, we will be able to formulate and test new hypotheses that will result in a better understanding of central principles of plant morphogenesis.We anticipate that our RU will have a substantial impact at three levels: At the scientific level, it will assess what general principles underpin plant morphogenesis. At the level of resources, it will catalyse the development and application of novel computational tools for quantitative morphodynamics. At the level of training, it will foster the development of a new community of young quantitative plant developmental biologists able to combine traditional cell and molecular biology with computational and physical methods to solve biological problems.