The twist-to-bend compliance of the Rheum rhabarbarum petiole: integrated computations and experiments

Plant petioles can be considered as hierarchical cellular structures, displaying geometric features defined at multiple length scales. Their macroscopic mechanical properties are the cumulative outcome of structural properties attained at each level of the structural hierarchy. This work appraises the compliance of a rhubarb stalk by determining the stalk’s bending and torsional stiffness both computationally and experimentally. In our model, the irregular cross-sectional shape of the petiole and the layers of the constituent tissues are considered to evaluate the stiffness properties at the structural level. The arbitrary shape contour of the petiole is generated with reasonable accuracy by the Gielis superformula. The stiffness and architecture of the constituent layered tissues are modeled by using the concept of shape transformers so as to obtain the computational twist-to-bend ratio for the petiole. The rhubarb stalk exhibits a ratio of flexural to torsional stiffness 4.04 (computational) and 3.83 (experimental) in comparison with 1.5 for isotropic, incompressible, circular cylinders, values that demonstrate the relative structural compliance to flexure and torsion.     

GRAVITY-INDUCED EFFECTS ON MATERIAL PROPERTIES AND SIZE OF LEAVES ON HORIZONTAL SHOOTS OF ACER SACCHARUM (ACERACEAE)

The influence of gravity on the size and mechanical properties of mature leaves on horizontal shoots and etiolated seedlings of Acer saccharum Marsh. (Aceraceae) was examined. Leaves were grouped into three categories regarding their location on shoots (dorsal or “top” T, lateral or “left/right” L/R, and ventral or “bottom” B). Young's modulus E, petiole length L, lamina surface area A and weight P, and the cross-sectional areas of different tissues within petioles were measured for each leaf and were found to be correlated with leaf location (T, L/R, and B): T leaves were smaller and had lower E than their B counterparts; the size and material properties of L/R leaves were intermediate between those of T and B leaves. In general, A, P, and E decreased from the base to the tip of shoots. In addition to anisophylly, the influence of gravity induced petiole bending and torsion and resulted in the horizontal planation of laminae. This was observed for field-grown mature plants and etiolated seedlings. Petiole bending and torsion were interpreted as gravimorphogenetic phenomena. Anatomically, L, E, and petiole deflection angle Fv measured from the vertical were highly correlated with the combined cross-sectional areas of phloem fibers and xylem in petioles of B leaves and when data from all leaves were pooled. It is tentatively advanced that the correlation of E with the transverse areas of phloem fibers and xylem is evidence that either the pattern or the extent of lignification of petiole tissues is influenced by petiole position with respect to gravity.     

Quantifying dynamic mechanical properties of human placenta tissue using optimization techniques with specimen-specific finite-element models

Motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of fetal deaths resulting from maternal trauma in the United States, and placental abruption is the most common cause of these deaths. To minimize this injury, new assessment tools, such as crash-test dummies and computational models of pregnant women, are needed to evaluate vehicle restraint systems with respect to reducing the risk of placental abruption. Developing these models requires accurate material properties for tissues in the pregnant abdomen under dynamic loading conditions that can occur in crashes. A method has been developed for determining dynamic material properties of human soft tissues that combines results from uniaxial tensile tests, specimen-specific finite-element models based on laser scans that accurately capture non-uniform tissue-specimen geometry, and optimization techniques. The current study applies this method to characterizing material properties of placental tissue. For 21 placenta specimens tested at a strain rate of 12/s, the mean failure strain is 0.472±0.097 and the mean failure stress is 34.80±12.62 kPa. A first-order Ogden material model with ground-state shear modulus (μ) of 23.97±5.52 kPa and exponent (α₁) of 3.66±1.90 best fits the test results. The new method provides a nearly 40% error reduction (p<0.001) compared to traditional curve-fitting methods by considering detailed specimen geometry, loading conditions, and dynamic effects from high-speed loading. The proposed method can be applied to determine mechanical properties of other soft biological tissues.     

Chi hotspots trigger a conformational change in the helicase-like domain of AddAB to activate homologous recombination

In bacteria, the repair of double-stranded DNA breaks is modulated by Chi sequences. These are recognised by helicase-nuclease complexes that process DNA ends for homologous recombination. Chi activates recombination by changing the biochemical properties of the helicase-nuclease, transforming it from a destructive exonuclease into a recombination-promoting repair enzyme. This transition is thought to be controlled by the Chi-dependent opening of a molecular latch, which enables part of the DNA substrate to evade degradation beyond Chi. Here, we show that disruption of the latch improves Chi recognition efficiency and stabilizes the interaction of AddAB with Chi, even in mutants that are impaired for Chi binding. Chi recognition elicits a structural change in AddAB that maps to a region of AddB which resembles a helicase domain, and which harbours both the Chi recognition locus and the latch. Mutation of the latch potentiates the change and moderately reduces the duration of a translocation pause at Chi. However, this mutant displays properties of Chi-modified AddAB even in the complete absence of bona fide hotspot sequences. The results are used to develop a model for AddAB regulation in which allosteric communication between Chi binding and latch opening ensures quality control during recombination hotspot recognition.     

Implications of variation in resin composition among organs, tissues and populations in the tropical legume Hymenaea

Variation in leaf blade, petiole and primary stem resins, composed of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, is analysed in two contrasting species of the tropical legume Hymenaea. Five populations of the New World H. courbaril, spanning a wide range of ecosystems, are compared with a population of the disjunct African H. verrucosa. Resins in petiole and primary stem tissue are similar, but differ significantly in total composition from leaf blade tissues. The major components, caryophyllene, - and β-selinene and β-copaene vary most significantly among the tissues, but all compounds vary at highly significant levels among populations. The variation patterns in resin composition among the leaf blade and petiole/primary stem tissues are put into a larger context of comparison with the primarily diterpenoid patterns in secondary stem and pod tissues. Although the comparatively minor quantitative differences in the sesquiterpene systems could be attributed solely to developmental and physiological differences among the tissues and populations, the total weight of accumulating evidence regarding quantitative variation and demonstrated toxic and deterrent properties of sesquiterpene resins to insect herbivores leads us to hypothesize a possible role of differential predator pressures.     

In vivo tibial stiffness is maintained by whole bone morphology and cross-sectional geometry in growing female mice

Whole bone morphology, cortical geometry, and tissue material properties modulate skeletal stresses and strains that in turn influence skeletal physiology and remodeling. Understanding how bone stiffness, the relationship between applied load and tissue strain, is regulated by developmental changes in bone structure and tissue material properties is important in implementing biophysical strategies for promoting healthy bone growth and preventing bone loss. The goal of this study was to relate developmental patterns of in vivo whole bone stiffness to whole bone morphology, cross-sectional geometry, and tissue properties using a mouse axial loading model. We measured in vivo tibial stiffness in three age groups (6, 10, 16 wk old) of female C57Bl/6 mice during cyclic tibial compression. Tibial stiffness was then related to cortical geometry, longitudinal bone curvature, and tissue mineral density using microcomputed tomography (microCT). Tibial stiffness and the stresses induced by axial compression were generally maintained from 6 to 16 wks of age. Growth-related increases in cortical cross-sectional geometry and longitudinal bone curvature had counteracting effects on induced bone stresses and, therefore, maintained tibial stiffness similarly with growth. Tissue mineral density increased slightly from 6 to 16 wks of age, and although the effects of this increase on tibial stiffness were not directly measured, its role in the modulation of whole bone stiffness was likely minor over the age range examined. Thus, whole bone morphology, as characterized by longitudinal curvature, along with cortical geometry, plays an important role in modulating bone stiffness during development and should be considered when evaluating and designing in vivo loading studies and biophysical skeletal therapies.     

In Situ D-periodic Molecular Structure of Type II Collagen

Collagens are essential components of extracellular matrices in multicellular animals. Fibrillar type II collagen is the most prominent component of articular cartilage and other cartilage-like tissues such as notochord. Its in situ macromolecular and packing structures have not been fully characterized, but an understanding of these attributes may help reveal mechanisms of tissue assembly and degradation (as in osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis). In some tissues such as lamprey notochord, the collagen fibrillar organization is naturally crystalline and may be studied by x-ray diffraction. We used diffraction data from native and derivative notochord tissue samples to solve the axial, D-periodic structure of type II collagen via multiple isomorphous replacement. The electron density maps and heavy atom data revealed the conformation of the nonhelical telopeptides and the overall D-periodic structure of collagen type II in native tissues, data that were further supported by structure prediction and transmission electron microscopy. These results help to explain the observed differences in collagen type I and type II fibrillar architecture and indicate the collagen type II cross-link organization, which is crucial for fibrillogenesis. Transmission electron microscopy data show the close relationship between lamprey and mammalian collagen fibrils, even though the respective larger scale tissue architecture differs.     

Single nucleotide polymorphisms and domain/splice variants modulate assembly and elastomeric properties of human elastin. Implications for tissue specificity and durability of elastic tissue

Polymeric elastin provides the physiologically essential properties of extensibility and elastic recoil to large arteries, heart valves, lungs, skin and other tissues. Although the detailed relationship between sequence, structure and mechanical properties of elastin remains a matter of investigation, data from both the full‐length monomer, tropoelastin, and smaller elastin‐like polypeptides have demonstrated that variations in protein sequence can affect both polymeric assembly and tensile mechanical properties. Here we model known splice variants of human tropoelastin (hTE), assessing effects on shape, polymeric assembly and mechanical properties. Additionally we investigate effects of known single nucleotide polymorphisms in hTE, some of which have been associated with later‐onset loss of structural integrity of elastic tissues and others predicted to affect material properties of elastin matrices on the basis of their location in evolutionarily conserved sites in amniote tropoelastins. Results of these studies show that such sequence variations can significantly alter both the assembly of tropoelastin monomers into a polymeric network and the tensile mechanical properties of that network. Such variations could provide a temporal‐ or tissue‐specific means to customize material properties of elastic tissues to different functional requirements. Conversely, aberrant splicing inappropriate for a tissue or developmental stage or polymorphisms affecting polymeric assembly could compromise the functionality and durability of elastic tissues. To our knowledge, this is the first example of a study that assesses the consequences of known polymorphisms and domain/splice variants in tropoelastin on assembly and detailed elastomeric properties of polymeric elastin.     

Study of the Geometry and Folding Pattern of Leaves of Mimosa pudica

Many structural and functional properties possessed by plants have great potentials to stimulate new concepts and inno-vative ideas in the field of biomimetic engineering. The key inputs from biology can be used for creation of efficient and op-timized structures. The study of the geometry and folding pattern of leaves of Mimosa pudica,referred as Sensitive Plant,reveals some of the peculiar characteristics during folding and unfolding. When the leaf is touched,it quickly folds its leaflets and pinnae and droops downward at the petiole attachment. With the help of experiments on simulation model,the variations in angle of leaflets and degree of compaction after folding are investigated.     

MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF PLANT TISSUES AS INFERRED FROM THE THEORY OF PRESSURIZED CELLULAR SOLIDS

The mechanical behavior of plant tissues and its dependency on tissue geometry and turgor pressure are analytically dealt with in terms of the theory of cellular solids. A cellular solid is any material whose matter is distributed in the form of beamlike struts or complete “cell” walls. Therefore, its relative density is less than one and typically less than 0.3. Relative density is the ratio of the density of the cellular solid to the density of its constitutive (“cell wall”) material. Relative density depends upon cell shape and the density of cell wall material. It largely influences the mechanical behavior of cellular solids. Additional important parameters to mechanical behavior are the elastic modulus of “cell walls” and the magnitude of internal “cell” pressure. Analyses indicate that two “stiffening” agents operate in natural cellular solids (plant tissues): 1) cell wall infrastructure and 2) the hydrostatic influence of the protoplasm within each cellular compartment. The elastic modulus measured from a living tissue sample is the consequence of both agents. Therefore, the mechanical properties of living tissues are dependent upon the magnitude of turgor pressure. High turgor pressure places cell walls into axial tension, reduces the magnitude of cell wall deformations under an applied stress, and hence increases the apparent elastic modulus of the tissue. In the absence of turgid protoplasts or in the case of dead tissues, the cell wall infrastructure will respond as a linear elastic, nonlinear elastic, or “densifying” material (under compression) dependent upon the magnitude of externally applied stress. Accordingly, it is proposed that no single tangent (elastic) modulus from a stress-strain curve of a plant tissue is sufficient to characterize the material properties of a sample. It is also suggested that when a modulus is calculated that it be referred to as the tissue composite modulus to distinguish it from the elastic modulus of a noncellular solid material.     

Transport and metabolism of indole-3-acetic Acid in coleus petiole segments of increasing age

Transport and metabolism of IAA-1-¹⁴C in Coleus blumei Benth. was studied by means of a combination of liquid scintillation counting, autoradiography and thin-layer chromatography. Transport of IAA in petiole segments of increasing age (No. 2-8) was strictly polar in a basipetal direction. No acropetal movement occurred in either young or old tissues. The greatest amount, expressed as a percentage of the radioactivity lost from the donor block, was found in basal receivers on petiole number 2. There was gradually less transport in older segments. The recovery as a percentage of the radioactivity not accounted for by donor and receiver blocks, measured by counting the radioactivity in an acetonitrile-extract of petiole segments, was low: 25 to 50%. In this acetonitrile-soluble fraction evidence for different radioactive compounds was found, depending on the age of the tissue. A possible relationship between the amounts of auxin transported in the tissue and its corresponding metabolism is discussed.     

Comparative leaf' anatomical studies of some Mallotus Lour. (Euphorbiaceae) species

A comparative study was undertaken on the leaves and petioles of 16 species of Mallotus in order to investigate anatomical variations of potential in species identification. There is a range of characters which varies between species. These include the outline of the midrib and petiole in transverse sections, the shape of the vascular tissue in midribs, the presence of central bundles in the petiole, the presence of terminal sclereids, enlarged tracheids, presence or absence of non-glandular trichomes, and parenchymatous sheaths in vascular bundles. A combination of these characters may be used to identify species. Anatomical data support the placing of only a few species into the respective sections.     

A viscoelastic ellipsoidal model of the mechanics of plantar tissues

Several assessments of the mechanics of plantar tissues, using various material models in conjunction with representing plantar regions using simple geometry, have been proposed. In this study, the plantar tissues were divided into eight regions to account for the various tissue characteristics. The plantar tissue model described each region as an ellipsoid, with a viscoelastic material model. The model combined varying elliptical contact areas with nonlinear tissue stiffness and damping. The main instruments used in this research were pressure-measuring insoles, which were used to determine the ground reaction force, as well as contact areas. The measured contact areas were fitted as elliptical areas to describe the compression of the corresponding ellipsoids. The approach was tested using walking data collected from 26 individuals: four men, 22 women, 24.4 ± 6.9 years old, 66.9 ± 21.4 kg of mass, 1.66 ± 0.12 m tall. The geometric and material variables of the proposed ellipsoidal model were optimized for each participant to match the ground reaction forces. Results suggest that the ellipsoid model is able to reproduce ground reaction force with reasonable accuracy. The largest errors were seen in heel and toe regions and were due to high-rate forces and small comparative areas, respectively. The model also showed that there are regional differences in the mechanical characteristics of plantar tissue, which confirms earlier research.     

A Three-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis of Heat Transfer in the Forearm

Abstract

The finite element method was used to analyze heat transfer within a section of the forearm while exposed to different ambient conditions and with different metabolic states. The three-dimensional model accounts for the different material properties of bone, muscle and blood and incorporates a single artery-vein pair for counter-current heat exchange. The geometry of the model was developed from anatomical cross-sectional images of the forearm. The model was used to determine the effects or rest vs. exercise, free vs. forced surface convection and 0°C vs. — 20 °C external temperatures. The results of the model were compared to experimental data and the model exhibits qualitatively correct behaviour. This model can be used to study hyperthermia, burns and cryogenic freezing of tissue.     

The influence of photoperiodic growth condition on isolation of RNA from strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa duch.) tissue

Purification of high-quality RNA from different strawberry tissues is often affected by the presence of high levels of contamination by polysaccharides and phenolic compounds. With the protocol detailed here we describe for the first time total RNA purification from petiole tissue. Treating the plants used as source of material with short-day light regime prior the extraction we are able to obtain RNA suitable for further applications such as in vitro translation, RT-PCR, and RNA blot analysis. The yield of total RNA extraction is significantly enhanced when tissue from plants grown under short-day photoperiodic condition is used compared with that taken from plants grown under long day photoperiod.     

Electrical Stimulation and its Effects on Indoleacetic Acid and Peroxidase Levels in Tomato Plants (Lycopersicon esculentum)

The effect of applied direct electrical currents (3–7µA) on the levels of indoleacetic acid (IAA) and peroxidasein tomato plants was determined. Six-week-old treated and controltomato plants were divided into four parts (petiole, leaf, root,and internode). The levels of IAA and peroxidase were higherin the treated tissues (leaf and petiole) compared to the controls.There was not a significant difference in peroxidase levelsin internodal tissue between treated and control plants; however,the peroxidase level in treated root tissue was lower than incontrol plants. It is suggested that small currents may alterthe levels of IAA and peroxidase in different plant tissues.     

Tunable Collagen I Hydrogels for Engineered Physiological Tissue Micro-Environments

Collagen I hydrogels are commonly used to mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) for tissue engineering applications. However, the ability to design collagen I hydrogels similar to the properties of physiological tissues has been elusive. This is primarily due to the lack of quantitative correlations between multiple fabrication parameters and resulting material properties. This study aims to enable informed design and fabrication of collagen hydrogels in order to reliably and reproducibly mimic a variety of soft tissues. We developed empirical predictive models relating fabrication parameters with material and transport properties. These models were obtained through extensive experimental characterization of these properties, which include compression modulus, pore and fiber diameter, and diffusivity. Fabrication parameters were varied within biologically relevant ranges and included collagen concentration, polymerization pH, and polymerization temperature. The data obtained from this study elucidates previously unknown fabrication-property relationships, while the resulting equations facilitate informed a priori design of collagen hydrogels with prescribed properties. By enabling hydrogel fabrication by design, this study has the potential to greatly enhance the utility and relevance of collagen hydrogels in order to develop physiological tissue microenvironments for a wide range of tissue engineering applications.     

Virus-like particles in phloem tissue of chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium) infected with anthriscus yellows virus

Clusters of isometric virus-like particles c. 22 nm in diameter, embedded in amorphous electron-dense material, were found in the phloem tissue of Anthriscus cerefolium (chervil) plants infected with the semi-persistent aphid-borne virus, anthriscus yellows (AYV). The particles resembled those seen previously in thin sections of AYV-transmitting aphids (Cavariella aegopodii). The particles were found only in the central vascular bundle of the petiole and its continuation in the leaf midrib. They were also found in extracts made by grinding petiole and midrib tissue in 10 % sucrose using Carborundum. These results confirm earlier studies which suggest that AYV is confined to deeper-lying tissues.