Hydromechanical field theory of plant morphogenesis
Abstract
The growth of plants is a hydromechanical phenomenon in which cells enlarge by absorbing water, while their walls expand and remodel under turgor-induced tension. In multicellular tissues, where cells are mechanically interconnected, morphogenesis results from the combined effect of local cell growths, which reflects the action of heterogeneous mechanical, physical, and chemical fields, each exerting varying degrees of nonlocal influence within the tissue. To describe this process, we propose a physical field theory of plant growth. This theory treats the tissue as a poromorphoelastic body, namely a growing poroelastic medium, where growth arises from pressure-induced deformations and osmotically-driven imbibition of the tissue. From this perspective, growing regions correspond to hydraulic sinks, leading to the possibility of complex non-local regulations, such as water competition and growth-induced water potential gradients. More in general, this work aims to establish foundations for a mechanistic, mechanical field theory of morphogenesis in plants, where growth arises from the interplay of multiple physical fields, and where biochemical regulations are integrated through specific physical parameters.
Used in syntheses
Questions this source addresses
- How can chemicals that react and spread create a pattern?
- How do cells know where they are in a growing body?
- How does a living thing know what shape to grow into?
- How does auxin shape a growing plant?
- How can competing growth regions in a plant tissue draw water away from each other through shared water potential gradients?
- How does treating plant tissue as a poromorphoelastic medium explain the coupling between water absorption and cell wall expansion during growth?
- What role do mechanical and physical fields play alongside chemical (hormonal) gradients in regulating plant morphogenesis?
- Why do growing regions of a plant tissue behave as hydraulic sinks, and what non-local effects does this create across the tissue?