Regensburg 2016 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 29: Multicellular Systems
BP 29.5: Talk
Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 10:45–11:00, H45
Predicting leaf growth by conformal map — •Karen Alim1, Shahaf Armon2, Eran Sharon2, Boris I. Shraiman3, and Arezki Boudaoud4 — 1Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany — 2Racah Institute for Physics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel — 3KITP, University of California, Santa Barbara, U.S.A. — 4Laboratoire Reproduction et Développement des Plantes & Laboratoire Joliot-Curie, INRA, CNRS, ENS, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
The dynamics and patterns of growth lie at the heart of morphogenesis, the shaping of an organ or organism. Here, we investigate the local growth throughout plant leaves. We perform a conformal map between the contours at successive stages during the growth of a leaf. Based on the mapping we predict the local displacement field in the leaf blade. The predicted displacement field agrees with the experimentally measured displacement field to 92%. The observed growth is not a mere dilation but dominated by a combination of dilation, rotation and reflection. Yet, we find that the complex growth characteristics are captured by a conformal map. The constraints implied by a conformal map on local growth dynamics suggest local regulation of growth at play.