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Multiple mechanisms behind plant bending

Nature Plants volume 9, pages 13–21 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

To survive, plants constantly adapt their body shape to their environment. This often involves remarkably rapid bending of their organs such as stems, leaves and roots. Since plant cells are enclosed by stiff cell walls, they use various strategies for bending their organs, which differ from bending mechanisms of soft animal tissues and involve larger physical forces. Here we attempt to summarize and link different viewpoints on bending mechanisms: genes and signalling, mathematical modelling and biomechanics. We argue that quantifying cell growth and physical forces could open a new level in our understanding of bending and resolve some of its paradoxes.

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Fig. 1: Hinge-like vs fountain-like bending strategies of plants.
Fig. 2: Networks for growth control during bending.
Fig. 3: Thin-rod models of gravitropism vs mechanical models of reaction wood.
Fig. 4: Patterns of tension-compression differ depending on what causes bending.

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Acknowledgements

We apologize to those whose work is not cited due to space limitations. This research was supported by an International Post-doc grant from Vetenskapsrådet (2020-06442) to K.J., a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship grant to Y.M., grants from FRQNT (2021-NC-284190) and NSERC (RGPIN-2018-05762) to A.-L.R.-K., and grants from the Kempe Foundation and Vetenskapsrådet (2016-00504) to R.P.B.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRBV, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Kristoffer Jonsson & Anne-Lise Routier-Kierzkowska

  2. Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden

    Yuan Ma & Rishikesh P. Bhalerao

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  1. Kristoffer Jonsson
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K.J., Y.M., A.-L.R.-K. and R.P.B. wrote the manuscript. K.J. and A.-L.R.-K. generated the figures.

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Correspondence to Anne-Lise Routier-Kierzkowska or Rishikesh P. Bhalerao.

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Jonsson, K., Ma, Y., Routier-Kierzkowska, AL. et al. Multiple mechanisms behind plant bending. Nat. Plants 9, 13–21 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01310-y

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