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Quantification of Mechanical Forces and Physiological Processes Involved in Pollen Tube Growth Using Microfluidics and Microrobotics.
Journal article

Quantification of Mechanical Forces and Physiological Processes Involved in Pollen Tube Growth Using Microfluidics and Microrobotics.

  • Burri JT Multi-Scale Robotics Lab, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Munglani G Department of Plant and Microbial Biology and Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Nelson BJ Multi-Scale Robotics Lab, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Grossniklaus U Department of Plant and Microbial Biology and Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Vogler H Department of Plant and Microbial Biology and Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. hannes.vogler@botinst.uzh.ch.
  • 2020-06-13
Published in:
  • Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). - 2020
Calcium (Ca2+)
Fluorescence
Force sensor
Growth
Imaging
Lab-on-a-chip (LOC)
Microelectromechanical system (MEMS)
Penetrative force
Perceptive force
Pollen tube (PT)
English Pollen tubes face many obstacles on their way to the ovule. They have to decide whether to navigate around cells or penetrate the cell wall and grow through it or even within it. Besides chemical sensing, which directs the pollen tubes on their path to the ovule, this involves mechanosensing to determine the optimal strategy in specific situations. Mechanical cues then need to be translated into physiological signals, which eventually lead to changes in the growth behavior of the pollen tube. To study these events, we have developed a system to directly quantify the forces involved in pollen tube navigation. We combined a lab-on-a-chip device with a microelectromechanical systems-based force sensor to mimic the pollen tube's journey from stigma to ovary in vitro. A force-sensing plate creates a mechanical obstacle for the pollen tube to either circumvent or attempt to penetrate while measuring the involved forces in real time. The change of growth behavior and intracellular signaling activities can be observed with a fluorescence microscope.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/185539
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