Sensing yourself: Mechanical feedback between organ curvature and cell-based decisions

Growth asymmetry is key for morphogenesis in most eukaryotes.

During animal embryo development, asymmetric cell constriction and migration cause tissue folding required for gastrulation. Plants instead rely on cell division and expansion to robustly generate complex shapes. However, our understanding of the underlying molecular networks fails to explain the fine-tuning of morphogenesis.

Instead physical cues are emerging as core instructors of growth behavior.

This project aims to understand how mechanical and geometric signals instruct self-organizing growth behavior in plants.

I propose plants continuously sense mechanical cues at both tissue and cell level as instructions to fine-tune growth, where feedback loops between cell expansion and organ shape equilibrate growth behavior.

To test this, in a 3-year project in Dr Anne-Lise Routier’s lab at Montreal University, I will use apical hook development as a model system. The hook predictably and robustly forms a 180° curve via growth asymmetry.

In a multiscale approach, combining 3D growth tracking, mechanical measurements and genetics, I aim to identify core factors that calibrate bending. These data will serve to construct a 3D computer model, which will predict key elements of the initial hypothesis. Finally, I will test model predictions experimentally.

By this approach, I aim to explain the biomechanical basis of self-organization during morphogenesis, fundamentally expanding our understanding of plant development