TY - JOUR
T1 - Morphomechanical Innovation Drives Explosive Seed Dispersal
AU - Hofhuis, Hugo
AU - Moulton, Derek
AU - Lessinnes, Thomas
AU - Routier-Kierzkowska, Anne Lise
AU - Bomphrey, Richard J J.
AU - Mosca, Gabriella
AU - Reinhardt, Hagen
AU - Sarchet, Penny
AU - Gan, Xiangchao
AU - Tsiantis, Miltos
AU - Ventikos, Yiannis
AU - Walker, Simon
AU - Goriely, Alain
AU - Smith, Richard
AU - Hay, Angela
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank G. Coupland and P. Prusinkiewicz for comments; E. Coen for helpful discussions; E. Gaffney, A. St. Leger-Honeybone, H. Dickinson, U. Neumann, R. Berndtgen, L. Nikolov, K. Schneeberger, C. Kiefer, M. Lysak, B. Scheres, B. Pieper, A. Galstyan, C. Rookyard, T. Nakata, and P. Huijser for materials and assistance; and G. Taylor for use of cameras purchased on European Research Council (ERC) grant 204513. This work was supported by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council grant BB/H01313X/1 and Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) young investigator’s grant RGY0087/2011 to A.H., HFSP grant RGP0008/2013 and SystemsX.ch iPhD project to R.S., a Reintegration Grant under EC Framework VII to A.G, Swiss National Science Foundation grants 200020-143613 and 200020-163324 to T.L., and a Max Planck Society core grant to M.T. A.H. was supported by the Max Planck Society W2 Minerva programme and a Royal Society University Research Fellowship; A.G. by a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award; and R.J.B. by an EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship (EP/H004025/1).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Author(s)
PY - 2016/6/30
Y1 - 2016/6/30
N2 - How mechanical and biological processes are coordinated across cells, tissues, and organs to produce complex traits is a key question in biology. Cardamine hirsuta, a relative of Arabidopsis thaliana, uses an explosive mechanism to disperse its seeds. We show that this trait evolved through morphomechanical innovations at different spatial scales. At the organ scale, tension within the fruit wall generates the elastic energy required for explosion. This tension is produced by differential contraction of fruit wall tissues through an active mechanism involving turgor pressure, cell geometry, and wall properties of the epidermis. Explosive release of this tension is controlled at the cellular scale by asymmetric lignin deposition within endocarp b cells—a striking pattern that is strictly associated with explosive pod shatter across the Brassicaceae plant family. By bridging these different scales, we present an integrated mechanism for explosive seed dispersal that links evolutionary novelty with complex trait innovation.
AB - How mechanical and biological processes are coordinated across cells, tissues, and organs to produce complex traits is a key question in biology. Cardamine hirsuta, a relative of Arabidopsis thaliana, uses an explosive mechanism to disperse its seeds. We show that this trait evolved through morphomechanical innovations at different spatial scales. At the organ scale, tension within the fruit wall generates the elastic energy required for explosion. This tension is produced by differential contraction of fruit wall tissues through an active mechanism involving turgor pressure, cell geometry, and wall properties of the epidermis. Explosive release of this tension is controlled at the cellular scale by asymmetric lignin deposition within endocarp b cells—a striking pattern that is strictly associated with explosive pod shatter across the Brassicaceae plant family. By bridging these different scales, we present an integrated mechanism for explosive seed dispersal that links evolutionary novelty with complex trait innovation.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84976562062&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cell.2016.05.002
DO - 10.1016/j.cell.2016.05.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 27264605
AN - SCOPUS:84976562062
SN - 0092-8674
VL - 166
SP - 222
EP - 233
JO - Cell
JF - Cell
IS - 1
ER -