Computational modeling of cellular morphogenesis and shape functionality in plants

植物的发育和功能由组成有机体的组织和细胞的形状和分化决定。与动物细胞不同，植物细胞被一种坚硬的基质--细胞壁所包围。因此，细胞发育过程，如细胞尺寸的增加和细胞形状的改变，需要这种聚合物壁的机械变形。反过来，细胞壁的机械特性决定了分化细胞的几何形状。人们一直致力于整体细胞形状的变化，例如在圆柱形茎或根细胞伸长过程中发生的变化。然而，我们对控制复杂细胞几何形状的产生的力学原理知之甚少，例如星形毛状体或拼图形状的叶表皮细胞。传统的数值模拟方法无法应对这种复杂程度，我建议使用为机械工程应用开发的分析工具，结合一系列定量实验方法，对决定植物细胞生长的机械过程进行建模，并确定细胞形状如何影响细胞功能。这项研究计划将细胞生物学方法与微机械工程和计算建模结合起来。

Plant development and functioning are determined by the shape and differentiation of the tissues and cells composing the organism. Unlike animal cells, plant cells are surrounded by a stiff matrix, the cell wall. Consequently, cell developmental processes such as increase in cell size and change in cell shape require the mechanical deformation of this polymer wall. In turn, the mechanical properties of the cell wall determine the geometry of the differentiating cell. Much attention has been devoted to overall cell shape changes such as those occurring during the elongation of cylindrical stem or root cells. However, we have a poor understanding of the mechanical principles that govern the generation of complex cellular geometries such as those of star-shaped trichomes or jigsaw puzzle shaped leaf epidermis cells. Conventional numerical modeling methods are unable to cope with this degree of complexity and I propose to use analytic tools developed for applications in mechanical engineering, in combination with an array of quantitative experimental approaches, to model the mechanical processes that determine plant cell growth and to determine how cell shape influences cell function. This research program combines cell biological approaches with micromechanical engineering and computational modeling.