Oral Presentation 26th ACMM “2020 Visions in Microscopy”

Invited talk - Seeing the mechanical cell wall: from biochemistry to material properties to function   (#84)

Siobhan A Braybrook 1 , Firas Bou Daher 1 , Marina Linardic 1
  1. UCLA, Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, United States

How can we visualize physical forces in biological organisms? In walled multi-cellular organisms, such as plants and seaweeds, this becomes a critical question; the presence of a cell wall both generates the force for growth and expansion, turgor pressure, but also can restrict these processes through its mechanical properties. As such, in order to understand the how walled cells grow, physically, we must find ways to quantify both turgor pressure and cell wall mechanics- in a spatially relevant manner. We apply a combination of microscopic methods towards measuring these properties in plant and algal cells, in vivo, at cell and tissue scales.  Come learn how we are applying confocal microscopy, structured illumination microscopy (SIM), and atomic force microscopy to the understanding of how walled cells grow. We knit together genetic and molecular information, alongside biochemical characterization, with mechanical mapping of the living cell wall. The case studies presented will be the young Arabidopsis thaliana seedling, a plant, and the developing Fucus embryo, a seaweed.