The mechanical properties of primary cell walls are closely linked to the growth and morphogenesis of plant cells. CD BioSciences offers clients mechanical modeling of primary cell walls by combining structural cell wall details with quantitative biophysical parameters. Our expert scientific services will make a significant contribution to your research projects in the field of cell wall biomechanics.

Background

As a part of all plant cell walls, the primary wall has good permeability and plasticity. It is responsible for supporting the morphology of plant cells and providing the strength and flexibility required for cell growth. Given the important role of the cell wall in controlling the growth and morphogenesis of plant cells, it is necessary to quantify the biophysical properties that control the behavior of plant primary cell walls under tensile stress.

Over the past decades, physical and mathematical modeling has been applied to decipher the mechanical behavior of plant cells and tissues. The scales at which these models operate range from tissue to individual molecules. The decreasing structural scale in the modeling is largely limited by the availability of information on the geometry of the cell wall molecules and the interaction mechanisms between individual molecules. Recent advances in structural analysis and mechanistic modeling, particularly at the molecular scale and in living specimens, will help researchers to identify the molecular participants in the mechanical phenomena that ultimately determine plant phenotypes.

Fig.1 Examples for finite element modeling approaches to cell wall mechanical behavior. (Geitmann, 2010)

Our Services

Mathematical and computational modeling allows the establishment of a framework of physical laws on the basis of which predictions can be made and then experimentally tested. Good modeling helps to guide further experiments. We are committed to providing our customers with high-quality mechanical modeling services of the primary plant cell wall to help them gain a better understanding of plant behavior and development.

• Visualization of the molecular geometry of plant primary cell wall.
  We help our clients to obtain detailed structural information on plant primary cell wall through a variety of techniques such as polarised light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.
• Modeling cell wall behavior at decreasing scales.
• Modeling the reversible deformation of the cell wall under transient loading.
• Modeling irreversible deformations occurring during plant cell growth.
• Modeling morphogenesis at the sub-cellular level. In this model, the anisotropic behavior of the material can be explained by varying the elastic modulus in different directions.
• Modeling the behavior of cell walls at the molecular level. This approach can be extended to consider variations in fiber orientation throughout the wall thickness and is therefore very useful for understanding the growth behavior of individual plant cells.

Our Advantages

• Ph.D. level experienced technicians
• Robust and high-efficient biophysical assays
• Powerful and advanced data analysis tools
• Fast and cost-effective service

With many years of experience in the field of biophysical analysis, CD BioSciences has made some achievements in the fields of microscopy and mechanical modeling. We are well-positioned to provide our clients with mechanical modeling services of primary cell walls to accelerate their research progress. If you need scientific services related to cell wall biomechanical studies, please contact us directly for details.

Reference

1. Geitmann, A. Mechanical modeling and structural analysis of the primary plant cell wall. Current Opinion in Plant Biology. 2010, 13(6):693-9.

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