Integrative Mechanobiology of Growth and Architectural Development in Changing Mechanical Environments

Abstract

Mechanosensitive control of plant growth is a major process shaping howterrestrial plants acclimate to the mechanical challenges set by wind,self-weight, and autostresses. Loads acting on the plant are distributeddown to the tissues, following continuum mechanics. Mechanosensing,though, occurs within the cell, building up into integrated signals; yetthe reviews on mechanosensing tend to address macroscopic and molecularresponses, ignoring the biomechanical aspects of load distribution totissues and reducing biological signal integration to a ``mean plantcell.{''} In this chapter, load distribution and biological signalintegration are analyzed directly. The Sum of Strain Sensing model S(3)mis then discussed as a synthesis of the state of the art in quantitativedeterministic knowledge and as a template for the development of anintegrative and system mechanobiology.