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How cell-cell adhesion is achieved is a fundamental question in the development of multicellular organisms. Surprisingly, this question remains largely under-explored in plants and much remains to be discovered. In plants, cell-cell adhesion is physically mediated by the cell wall. This is not only passive: in previous work we identified a signaling pathway for the active maintenance of cell-cell adhesion in plants (Verger et al. 2016). Furthermore, we demonstrated how tensile stress in tissues tends to pull the cells apart in the epidermis during growth and development and may also act as an instructive cue for cell adhesion maintenance in plants (Verger et al. 2018). In turn, loss of cell adhesion impairs proper development. For instance, we showed how torsion relies on adhesion and anisotropic growth in stems (Verger et al. 2019).
In our current work we combine micromechanical approaches with molecular, cellular and developmental biology to further investigates the question of cell-cell adhesion in plants. We notably study the role of molecular player involved in mechanosensing and actin dynamics to decipher how mechanical feedbacks contribute to the maintenance of cell adhesion. For this, we develop new micromechanical tools to measure the strength of cell-cell adhesion as well as to impose mechanical stimuli, from the cell to the tissue level. Finally, we apply our knowledge on cell adhesion to study wood formation and specifically how intrusive tip growth contributes to fiber cell elongation.
References:
Verger, S., et al., 2016. Development 143 (14): 2536–40.
Verger, S., et al., 2018. eLife 7: e34460.
Verger, S., et al., 2019. Front. Plant Sci. 10:173