Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin08/08/2012 [1]

Waarom zijn planten lang en dun

Why are plants long and thin ?

Bela MulderTheory of Biomolecular Matter

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Individual plant cell become elongated with age

08/08/2012 [2]

Laskowski et al. Plos Biology(2008)

youngold

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Plant cells grow by stretching

08/08/2012 [3]

yield

resist

turgor pressure

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Plant cell wall: a fiber reinforced structure

08/08/2012 [4]

Cellulose microfibrils

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Fiber direction is crucial for growth

08/08/2012 [5]

Unfavorable

Favorable

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Guiding the motion of cellulose synthases

08/08/2012 [6]

Cellulose microfibril

“Fiber factory” = protein-complex

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

The “rail complex” of the growing cell

08/08/2012 [7]

Microscopiy:Pankaj Dhonukse, UvA

Bela Mulder: NTVB Schoorl Meeting

Microtubule “Dynamic instability”

25/05/2012 [8]

ShrinkingGrowing

length (mm)

time (min)

catastrophe

rescue

15.2 μm

231 s

Anna Akhmanova, EMC

Bela Mulder: NTVB Schoorl Meeting

Cortical microtubule “collision dynamics”

25/05/2012 [9]

zippering

induced catastrophe

cross-over

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

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Microtubule “scattering cross-sections”

08/08/2012 [10]

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

zippering cross-over

induced catastrophe

zipperingcross-over

induced catastrophe

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Analytical dynamical model

08/08/2012 [11]

growing

shrinking

inactive

rescue catastrophe

induced catastrophe zippering growth

rescue catastrophe

induced catastrophe shrinkagereactivation

zippering reactivation

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Spontaneous alignment predicted

08/08/2012 [12]

isotropic

fully ordered no zippering

strong zippering

Critical interaction strength

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Survival of the aligned

08/08/2012 [13]

experience fewer collisions and hence become longer

is likely to undergo catastrophic collision

is likely to shrink back to zero length

can be renucleated in a more favourable direction

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Computer simulations

08/08/2012 [14]

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Aan het werk

08/08/2012 [15]

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Results are close to reality

08/08/2012 [16]

in silico

in vivo

Microscopy: Jan Vos, WUR

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Not just curiosity

08/08/2012 [17]

From which source should we get our biofuels?

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Lots of (unused) cell wall available

08/08/2012 [18]

5% of the earth’s biomass is in cell walls !

Only ruminants are able to digest cellulose

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Acknowledgements

08/08/2012 [19]

The grey materialists

RhodaHawkins

AMOLF → Paris → Bristol → Sheffield

EvaDeinum

AMOLF → AMOLF+WUR

Jelmer Lindeboom

AMOLF → WUR → Stanford

Simon Tindemans

AMOLF → Imperial College

The €’s

EU- NoE “Active Biomics”

Computational Life Science

EU- NEST “CASPIC”

Jan Vos WUR

Annemie Emons WUR/AMOLF

Dave Ehrhardt Stanford

The green fingers

Pankaj DhonuksheUtrecht

Ben ScheresUtrecht

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Het corset van de cel: de celwand

08/08/2012 [20]

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Het corset is hard nodig

08/08/2012 [21]

Aan Uit

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Constructie van de celwand

08/08/2012 [22]

Cellulose microvezelsBaleinen

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin08/08/2012 [23]

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

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

08/08/2012 [24]

Bela Mulder - Why are plants long and thin

Microtubules: the (dynamical) Lego™ of life

08/08/2012 [25]

zippering

induced catastrophe

cross-over

Microscopy: Anna Akhmanova, UMR