Cell growth pattern and wall microfibrillar arrangement: experiments with nitella

In cylindrical cells growing throughout their length, over-all transverse reinforcement of the wall by microfibrils is believed to be required for cell elongation. The multinet theory states that in such cells microfibrils are deposited at the inner surface of the wall with transverse orientation and are then passively reoriented toward the longitudinal direction by the predominant longitudinal strain (surface expension). In the present study young Nitella cells were physically forced to grow in highly abnormal patterns: in length only, in girth only, or with localized suppression of growth. Subsequent gradients of microfibrillar arrangement within the wall cross-section were measured with polarized light and interference microscopes. The novel wall structures produced were in all cases explainable by passive reorientation, i.e. by the multinet theory. The study also showed that orientation of synthesis remains insensitive to several of the physical manipulations that strongly influence the passive behavior of wall microfibrils. Only the localized complete suppression of surface growth led to the deposition of nontransverse cellulose. These results suggest that the presence of strain is needed for continued oriented synthesis, but that the directional aspect of strain is not an “instructional” agent continuously guiding the orientation of synthesis, once this orientation has been established.