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Mimicry of a Biophysical Pathway Leads to Diverse Pollen-like Surface Patterns by Liu, Jiaqi; Radja, Asja; Gao, Yuchong; Yin, Rui; Sweeney, Alison; Yang, Shu is a Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Mimicry of a Biophysical Pathway Leads to Diverse Pollen-like Surface Patterns about?

A ubiquitous structural feature in biological systems is texture in extracellular matrix that gains functions when hardened, for example, cell walls, insect scales, and diatom tests. Here, we develop patterned liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) particles by recapitulating the biophysical patterning mechanism that forms pollen grain surfaces. In pollen grains, a phase separation of extracellular material into a pattern of condensed and fluid-like phases induces undulations in the underlying elastic cell membrane to form patterns on the cell surface. In this work, LCE particles with variable surface patterns were created through a phase separation of liquid crystal oligomers (LCOs) droplet coupled to homeotropic anchoring at the droplet interface, analogously to the pollen grain wall formation. Specifically, nematically ordered polydisperse LCOs and isotropic organic solvent (dichloromethane) phase-separate at the surface of oil-in-water droplets, while, different LCO chain lengths segregate to different surface curvatures simultaneously. This phase separation, which creates a distortion in the director field, is in competition with homeotropic anchoring induced by sodium dodecyl sulfate

Who reads Mimicry of a Biophysical Pathway Leads to Diverse Pollen-like Surface Patterns?

Author

Liu, Jiaqi; Radja, Asja; Gao, Yuchong; Yin, Rui; Sweeney, Alison; Yang, Shu

Publisher

National Academy of Sciences; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; Oxford University Press (OUP); Publons; ScienceOpen (ISSN 0027-8424)

Published

2020

Language

EN

Field

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (Life Sciences)