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Mechanics of the Meristems

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Mechanical Integration of Plant Cells and Plants

Part of the book series: Signaling and Communication in Plants ((SIGCOMM,volume 9))

Abstract

In this chapter, the structure, function, and growth of apical meristems and cambium are discussed from a perspective of mechanics. We first characterize the meristems and point to implications of the symplasm, apoplasm, and organismal concepts for our understanding of plant morphogenesis. Then we discuss the symplastic (coordinated) growth and a putative role of principal directions of growth and mechanical stress tensor in the meristem function, also explaining how the principal directions are manifested in cellular pattern and cell behavior. The present knowledge on the mechanics of meristems, in particular on the distribution of mechanical stress and on the mechanical properties of the meristems, is to a large extent speculative. Our objectives are to present and discuss the available empirical data and hypotheses on the meristem mechanics, and the evidence on the role of mechanical factors in plant morphogenesis.

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Dedication and Acknowledgements

We dedicate this chapter to Professor Zygmunt Hejnowicz on the occasion of his 80th birthday and also his nearly as long amazement and fascination with nature, and devotion to plant biology.

We would like to thank colleagues from the Department of Biophysics and Morphogenesis of Plants, University of Silesia, for all the inseminating discussions, Dr. Marcin Lipowczan for the help in preparation of the figures presenting the V field and GT indicatrices, and Dr. Agata Burian for the comments of this manuscript. Work in our lab is partly supported by a bilateral grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland and the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, France.

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  1. Department of Biophysics and Morphogenesis of Plants, University of Silesia, Jagiellońska 28, 40-032, Katowice, Poland

    Dorota Kwiatkowska & Jerzy Nakielski

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  1. Dorota Kwiatkowska
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  2. Jerzy Nakielski
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Correspondence to Dorota Kwiatkowska .

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  1. Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Miedzychodzka 5, Poznan, 60-371, Poland

    Przemyslaw Wojtaszek

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Kwiatkowska, D., Nakielski, J. (2011). Mechanics of the Meristems. In: Wojtaszek, P. (eds) Mechanical Integration of Plant Cells and Plants. Signaling and Communication in Plants, vol 9. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19091-9_6

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