Ectocarpus is a filamentous brown alga whose cells are surrounded by a cell wall [1]. Using a visco-plastic model, we previously demonstrated that the polarised apical growth of its prostrate, uniserial filaments is regulated by changes in cell wall thickness, independent of alterations to the material's mechanical properties [2]. Apical growth is accompanied by transverse cell divisions,...
Polarized growth and division in tip-growing cells require tight coordination between membrane trafficking, in-plane membrane flows, and biochemical patterning. Using Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we combine mathematical and computational modeling with experiments by collaborators to study the physical mechanisms of membrane flows in cell polarity, cytokinesis, and stress adaptation. We...
Recent work across diverse model systems has advanced our understanding of growth and morphogenesis in walled tip-growing cells, including pollen tubes, root hairs, and fungal hyphae. While cell extension is mechanically constrained by the growth and extension of the cell wall, wall dynamics are tightly coupled to exocytosis, membrane trafficking, and, in some systems, cellulose synthesis and...
