COMPARISON OF EMPIRICAL RULES DESCRIBING CELL PLATE FORMATION IN 2D COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OF APICAL MERISTEM IN PLANTS

Abstract

There are two families of lines describing the cell wall pattern in root and shoot apices; periclines and anticlines. The lines of these two families are mutually orthogonal and steady during apex growth. They approximate orientation of cell walls in the apices. These lines are preserved in the growing organ. The direction of periclines and anticlines is regulated at the organ level. This paper focuses on the question: how is the pattern of periclines and anticlines maintained? There are a number of rules, which deal with the problem of the orientation of a new cell wall. We test three of them: Errera rule (the smallest possible area of a new cell wall that divides the mother cell into equal portions is chosen), Sachs rule (the new wall is perpendicular to the nearest wall from the geometric center where it is inserted) and Hejnowicz postulate (the new cell wall is perpendicular to one of the principal directions of growth rate). We tested these rules in the computer simulation of the organ growth and cell divisions.