3D mechano-geometric multicellular model of apical stem cell-driven plant morphogenesis

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed 3D multicellular model of plant morphogenesis driven by apical stem cells, integrating realistic cell mechanics and growth processes to aid experimental research.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive, customizable modeling framework combining physiological and computational aspects of plant cell growth and division.

Findings

Model accurately simulates 3D plant tissue morphogenesis.

Incorporates realistic cell mechanics and wall growth dynamics.

Provides a flexible platform for experimental validation.

Abstract

The orientation of cell division is a major determinant of three-dimensional plant morphogenesis. Whether and how a simple division orientation rule explains the establishment of symmetric body plans is a fundamental question. Testing such hypotheses is facilitated by a modeling framework that combines realistic three-dimensional cell mechanics, irreversible cell-wall growth, and a deformable tissue geometry. We recently introduced such a framework, a 3D mechano-geometric multicellular model of apical stem cell-driven morphogenesis. Here we document how the model is built from physiological and computational perspectives. We describe the triangulated thin-shell representation of cells, the treatment of turgor pressure, cell-wall elasticity and strain-driven wall growth, the cell-division algorithm together with its two pluggable division-rule implementations, and the remeshing operations that keep the triangulation well-conditioned as cells grow, divide, and deform. The aim of this paper is to make the present model accessible and customizable to experimental plant biologists.