The Pavement Cell Puzzle of Polarity and Cell Shape Dynamics

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Many of the general molecular ingredients for polarity have been discovered, howeve, it is still unclear how they work together to generate cells with particular shapes and how neighboring cell's shape changes are coordinated. The aim of this project is to shed light on this problem, by focussing on the development of pavement cells (PCs) in plants. PCs are epidermal leaf cells that grow from relatively symmetric shapes into complex forms that resemble pieces from a jigsaw puzzle. The cells grow multiple lobes, which fit perfectly into the necks of the neighbouring cells, generating interdigitating patterns. It is known that the formation of lobes and necks depends on subcellular patterning into regions with different ROP activities. In parallel, formation of lobes and necks, as well as biophysical and hormonal interactions between neighbouring cells, are thought to feedback to influence the regions with differentially activated ROPs. To comprehend these two-way interactions between patterning and form, we are using a combination of mathematical, computational and biophysical approaches. A tight cycle between modelling and experimentation is set up so that predictions are rapidly tested and fed back to the modelling effort. We are mainly interested in understanding the chemical signals controlling cell shape and transport properties of the cell, to subsequently add in effects on the cytoskeleton and cell wall, and finally, understand how the overall cell shape changes. Concomittantly, single-cell based studies are extended by looking at interactions between cells within multi-cellular contexts to determine the pattern of feedbacks between neighbouring cells within leaves, to address how polarity regulation coordinates leaf growth and shape. In short, this project constitutes a systems biology approach applied to unravel the how shape and polarity are generated through many scales.

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