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Published on September 28, 2007; 10.1104/pp.107.101964

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Received May 8, 2007
Accepted September 16, 2007

Loss of Stability: A New Look at the Physics of Cell Wall Behavior during Plant Cell Growth

Chunfang Wei * and Philip M. Lintilhac

Dept. of Plant Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405; Dept. of Physics, Guangxi National University, China 530006

* Corresponding author; email: chunfang.wei{at}uvm.edu.

In this paper we investigate aspects of turgor driven plant cell growth within the framework of a model derived from the Eulerian concept of instability. In particular we explore the relationship between cell geometry and cell turgor pressure by extending Loss of Stability theory to encompass cylindrical cells. Beginning with an analysis of the 3-Dimensional stress and strain of a cylindrical pressure vessel, we demonstrate that Loss of Stability is the inevitable result of gradually increasing internal pressure in a cylindrical cell. The turgor pressure predictions based on this model differ from the more traditional viscoelastic or creep based models in that they incorporate both cell geometry and wall mechanical properties in a single term. In order to confirm our predicted working turgor pressures, we obtained wall dimensions, elastic moduli and turgor pressures of sequential internodal cells of intact Chara corallina plants by direct measurement. The results show that turgor pressure predictions based on Loss of Stability theory fall within the expected physiological range of turgor pressures for this plant. We also studied the effect of varying wall Poisson's ratio {nu} on extension growth in living cells, showing that while increasing elastic modulus has an understandably negative effect on wall expansion, increasing Poisson's ratio would be expected to accelerate wall expansion.




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P. Schopfer, C. Wei, and P. M. Lintilhac
Is the Loss of Stability Theory a Realistic Concept for Stress Relaxation-Mediated Cell Wall Expansion during Plant Growth?
Plant Physiology, July 1, 2008; 147(3): 935 - 938.
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