Self-assembly mechanisms in plant cell wall components

Abstract

This review on self-assembly in biological fibrous composites presents theory and simulation to elucidate the principles and mechanisms that govern the thermodynamics, material science, and rheology of biological anisotropic soft matter that are involved in the growth/self-assembly/material processing of these materials. Plant cell wall, a multi-layered biological fibrous composite, is presented as a model biological system to investigate self-assembly mechanisms in nature's material synthesis. In order to demonstrate the universality of the presented models and the mechanisms investigated, references to other biological/ biomimetic systems are made when applicable. The integration of soft matter physics theories and models with actual biological data for plant cell walls provides a foundation for understanding growth, form, and function in biological material and offers a firm platform for biomimetic innovation.