Waarom zijn planten lang en dun

Why are plants long and thin ?

Bela Mulder Theory of Biomolecular Matter

08/08/2012

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[1]

Individual plant cell become elongated with age

Laskowski et al. Plos Biology(2008)

old
08/08/2012 Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

young
[2]

Plant cells grow by stretching

yield

turgor pressure

resist

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[3]

Plant cell wall: a fiber reinforced structure

Cellulose microfibrils

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[4]

Fiber direction is crucial for growth

Unfavorable

Favorable

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[5]

Guiding the motion of cellulose synthases

Cellulose microfibril

Fiber factory = protein-complex

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[6]

The rail complex of the growing cell

Microscopiy:Pankaj Dhonukse, UvA

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[7]

Microtubule Dynamic instability

Growing Shrinking

length (mm)

catastrophe

Anna Akhmanova, EMC

15.2 m rescue

time (min)
231 s
25/05/2012 Bela Mulder: NTVB Schoorl Meeting [8]

Cortical microtubule collision dynamics

R. Dixit & R. Cyr, Plant Cell (2004)

zippering

induced catastrophe

cross-over
25/05/2012 Bela Mulder: NTVB Schoorl Meeting [9]

Microtubule scattering cross-sections

Data: Dixit & Cyr (2004) Tobacco BY-2 cells

zippering
zippering

cross-over cross-over

induced catastrophe induced catastrophe

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[10]

Analytical dynamical model

growing rescue catastrophe

induced catastrophe

zippering

growth

shrinking

rescue

catastrophe

induced catastrophe

reactivation

shrinkage

inactive

zippering

reactivation

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[11]

Spontaneous alignment predicted

fully ordered

no zippering

strong zippering

isotropic

Critical interaction strength

08/08/2012 Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin [12]

Survival of the aligned

can be renucleated in a more favourable direction experience fewer collisions and hence become longer

is likely to undergo catastrophic collision

is likely to shrink back to zero length

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[13]

Computer simulations

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[14]

Aan het werk

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[15]

Results are close to reality

in silico

in vivo

Microscopy: Jan Vos, WUR

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[16]

Not just curiosity

From which source should we get our biofuels?

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[17]

Lots of (unused) cell wall available

5% of the earths biomass is in cell walls !
Only ruminants are able to digest cellulose

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[18]

Acknowledgements
The grey materialists

The s

EU- NoE Active Biomics

Rhoda Hawkins

Simon Tindemans

Jelmer Lindeboom

Eva Deinum

AMOLF Paris Bristol Sheffield

AMOLF Imperial College

AMOLF WUR Stanford

AMOLF AMOLF+WUR

The green fingers

Computational Life Science

EU- NEST CASPIC

Jan Vos WUR 08/08/2012 Annemie Emons WUR/AMOLF Dave Ehrhardt Stanford Pankaj Dhonukshe Utrecht Ben Scheres Utrecht [19]

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Het corset van de cel: de celwand

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[20]

Het corset is hard nodig

Aan Uit

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[21]

Constructie van de celwand

Baleinen

Cellulose microvezels

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[22]

08/08/2012

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[23]

Met de voeten in de modder en het hoofdje in de zon

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Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

[24]

Microtubules: the (dynamical) Lego of life

zippering

induced catastrophe
Microscopy: Anna Akhmanova, UMR

cross-over
08/08/2012 Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin [25]