Predicting Division Planes of Three-Dimensional Cells by Soap-Film Minimization

The Plant Cell
Pablo MartinezCarolyn G Rasmussen

Abstract

One key aspect of cell division in multicellular organisms is the orientation of the division plane. Proper division plane establishment contributes to normal plant body organization. To determine the importance of cell geometry in division plane orientation, we designed a three-dimensional probabilistic mathematical model to directly test the century-old hypothesis that cell divisions mimic soap-film minima. According to this hypothesis, daughter cells have equal volume and the division plane occurs where the surface area is at a minimum. We compared predicted division planes to a plant microtubule array that marks the division site, the preprophase band (PPB). PPB location typically matched one of the predicted divisions. Predicted divisions offset from the PPB occurred when a neighboring cell wall or PPB was directly adjacent to the predicted division site to avoid creating a potentially structurally unfavorable four-way junction. By comparing divisions of differently shaped plant cells (maize [Zea mays] epidermal cells and developing ligule cells and Arabidopsis thaliana guard cells) and animal cells (Caenorhabditis elegans embryonic cells) to divisions simulated in silico, we demonstrate the generality of this model to acc...Continue Reading

Citations

Feb 12, 2019·PLoS Computational Biology·Julien MoukhtarPhilippe Andrey
Feb 24, 2019·Annual Review of Plant Biology·Pantelis Livanos, Sabine Müller
Jun 23, 2020·The Journal of Cell Biology·Pablo MartinezCarolyn G Rasmussen
Dec 19, 2020·Biochemical Society Transactions·Léo Serra, Sarah Robinson
Sep 28, 2018·Current Opinion in Plant Biology·Michelle R FacetteJaimie M Van Norman
Sep 19, 2020·Current Biology : CB·Andrew MuroyamaDominique C Bergmann
May 26, 2021·Nature Plants·Pratibha KumariKatharina Bürstenbinder

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