ArticlePLoS computational biology2018
The self-organization of plant microtubules inside the cell volume yields their cortical localization, stable alignment, and sensitivity to external cues.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 94 citations in OpenAlex.
- Engineering Biomimetic Sporangia in Land Plants.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Temporal changes in surface tension guide microtubule organization and accurate asymmetric division of Arabidopsis zygotes.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Developmental changes in epidermal anatomy, drought tolerance and biomechanics in the leaves of a tropical fern.Annals of botany · 2025Article
- Technological advances in visualizing and rewiring microtubules during plant development.Journal of experimental botany · 2025Review
- Conflicting roles of cell geometry, microtubule deflection, and orientation-dependent dynamic instability in cortical array organization.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Microtubule-based nucleation results in a large sensitivity to cell geometry of the plant cortical array.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Agent-based simulation of cortical microtubule band movement in arabidopsis zygotes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Riemannian L-systems: modelling growing forms in curved spaces.Quantitative plant biology · 2025Review
- Microtubule flexibility, microtubule-based nucleation and ROP pattern co-alignment enhance protoxylem microtubule patterning.Quantitative plant biology · 2025Article
- Dynamic interplay of microtubule and actomyosin forces drive tissue extension.Nature communications · 2024Article
- A multi-level approach reveals key physiological and molecular traits in the response of two rice genotypes subjected to water deficit at the reproductive stage.Plant-environment interactions (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2023Review
- A fine balance among key biophysical factors is required for recovery of bipolar mitotic spindle from monopolar and multipolar abnormalities.Molecular biology of the cell · 2023Article
- Simulation of microtubule-cytoplasm interaction revealed the importance of fluid dynamics in determining the organization of microtubules.Plant direct · 2023Article
- Microtubule nucleation complex behavior is critical for cortical array homogeneityProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- A multiscale model of the regulation of aquaporin 2 recycling.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2022Article
- Simple, Fast and Efficient Methods for Analysing the Structural, Ultrastructural and Cellular Components of the Cell Wall.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Multiple asters organize the yolk microtubule network during dclk2-GFP zebrafish epiboly.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Reintegrating Biology Through the Nexus of Energy, Information, and Matter.Integrative and comparative biology · 2022Article
- Silver Nanoparticles Alter Microtubule Arrangement, Dynamics and Stress Phytohormone Levels.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Cell biology of primary cell wall synthesis in plants.The Plant cell · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many cell functions rely on the ability of microtubules to self-organize as complex networks. In plants, cortical microtubules are essential to determine cell shape as they guide the deposition of cellulose microfibrils, and thus control mechanical anisotropy of the cell wall. Here we analyze how, in turn, cell shape may influence microtubule behavior. Building upon previous models that confined microtubules to the cell surface, we introduce an agent model of microtubules enclosed in a three-dimensional volume. We show that the microtubule network has spontaneous aligned configurations that could explain many experimental observations without resorting to specific regulation. In particular, we find that the preferred cortical localization of microtubules emerges from directional persistence of the microtubules, and their interactions with each other and with the stiff wall. We also identify microtubule parameters that seem relatively insensitive to cell shape, such as length or number. In contrast, microtubule array anisotropy depends on local curvature of the cell surface and global orientation follows robustly the longest axis of the cell. Lastly, we find that geometric cues may be overcome, as the network is capable of reorienting toward weak external directional cues. Altogether our simulations show that the microtubule network is a good transducer of weak external polarity, while at the same time, easily reaching stable global configurations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.