Created 21/03/2016 Updated 27/02/2017

Tip growth ensures filament spreading

In Ectocarpus filaments (early sporophyte), growth is ensured by the elongation and cell division of the apical cell.

The maintenance and dynamics of tip growth is studied in light of both the physical parameters surrounding the cells (sea water osmotic pressure) and the cellular processes (cell wall stiffness, cytoskeleton dynamics). Biophysical modeling of tip growth in response to different environmental conditions, cytoskeleton/cell wall destabilising drugs and genetic backgrounds (mutant analyses) is currently carried out.

                  Illustration: Geometrical and cellular factors involved in tip growth:

                               

 

Main team investigators: Hervé Rabillé, Bernard Billoud

Current collaborations: Martine Ben Amar (ENS Physics Paris); Cédric Gaillard (BiBS Platform, INRA Nantes); Christos Katsaros (Univ Athens, Greece); Denis Saint-Marcoux & Jane Langdale (Plant Dept, Univ Oxford, U-K).