QUILLIET , Catherine

Plants move, and not only under the action of the wind or during growth. Although they lack muscle, some have developed mechanisms to generate surprisingly fast movements, with speeds (about 10 m/s) and accelerations (thousands of g) that compete and even surpass those encountered in the animal kingdom.

Dépourvues de muscles, certaines plantes mettent en œuvre des mouvements dont la fulgurance est comparable à celle des animaux. Nous montrons dans cet article que beaucoup de ces mouvements, nécessités par la reproduction ou la nutrition, ont la même base physique : une instabilité mécanique qui libère de l'énergie élastique stockée. Deux...

Cell apical constriction driven by actomyosin contraction forces is a conserved mechanism during tissue folding in embryo development. While much is now understood of the molecular mechanism responsible for apical constriction and of the tissue-scale integration of the ensuing in-plane deformations, it is still not clear if apical actomyosin...