We have located links that may give you full text access.
Electromechanics of polarized cell growth.
Bio Systems 2018 October 7
One of the most challenging questions in cell and developmental biology is how molecular signals are translated into mechanical forces that ultimately drive cell growth and motility. Despite an impressive body of literature demonstrating the importance of cytoskeletal and motor proteins as well as osmotic stresses for cell developmental mechanics, a host of dissenting evidence strongly suggests that these factors per se cannot explain growth mechanics even at the level of a single tip-growing cell. The present study addresses this issue by exploring fundamental interrelations between electrical and mechanical fields operating in cells. In the first instance, we employ a simplified but instructive model of a quiescent cell to demonstrate that even in a quasi-equilibrium state, ion transport processes are conditioned principally by mechanical tenets. Then we inquire into the electromechanical conjugacy in growing pollen tubes as biologically relevant and physically tractable developmental systems owing to their extensively characterized growth-associated ionic fluxes and strikingly polarized growth and morphology. A comprehensive analysis of the multifold stress pattern in the growing apices of pollen tubes suggests that tip-focused ionic fluxes passing through the polyelectrolyte-rich apical cytoplasm give rise to electrokinetic flows that actualize otherwise isotropic intracellular turgor into anisotropic stress field. The stress anisotropy can be then imparted from the apical cytoplasm to the abutting frontal cell wall to induce its local extension and directional cell growth. Converging lines of evidence explored in the concluding sections attest that tip-focused ionic fluxes and associated interfacial transport phenomena are not specific for pollen tubes but are also employed by a vast variety of algal, plant, fungal and animal cells, rendering their cytoplasmic stress fields essentially anisotropic and ultimately instrumental in cell shaping, growth and motility.
Full text links
Related Resources
Trending Papers
Challenges in Septic Shock: From New Hemodynamics to Blood Purification Therapies.Journal of Personalized Medicine 2024 Februrary 4
Molecular Targets of Novel Therapeutics for Diabetic Kidney Disease: A New Era of Nephroprotection.International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2024 April 4
The 'Ten Commandments' for the 2023 European Society of Cardiology guidelines for the management of endocarditis.European Heart Journal 2024 April 18
A Guide to the Use of Vasopressors and Inotropes for Patients in Shock.Journal of Intensive Care Medicine 2024 April 14
Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university
For the best experience, use the Read mobile app
All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.
By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.
Your Privacy Choices
You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now
Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university
For the best experience, use the Read mobile app