{"title":"Engineering Themes in Plant Forms and Functions.","authors":"Rahel Ohlendorf, Nathanael Yi-Hsuen Tan, Naomi Nakayama","doi":"10.1146/annurev-arplant-061422-094751","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Living structures constantly interact with the biotic and abiotic environment by sensing and responding via specialized functional parts. In other words, biological bodies embody highly functional machines and actuators. What are the signatures of engineering mechanisms in biology? In this review, we connect the dots in the literature to seek engineering principles in plant structures. We identify three thematic motifs-bilayer actuator, slender-bodied functional surface, and self-similarity-and provide an overview of their structure-function relationships. Unlike human-engineered machines and actuators, biological counterparts may appear suboptimal in design, loosely complying with physical theories or engineering principles. We postulate what factors may influence the evolution of functional morphology and anatomy to dissect and comprehend better the why behind the biological forms.</p>","PeriodicalId":8335,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of plant biology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":21.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Annual review of plant biology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-arplant-061422-094751","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PLANT SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Living structures constantly interact with the biotic and abiotic environment by sensing and responding via specialized functional parts. In other words, biological bodies embody highly functional machines and actuators. What are the signatures of engineering mechanisms in biology? In this review, we connect the dots in the literature to seek engineering principles in plant structures. We identify three thematic motifs-bilayer actuator, slender-bodied functional surface, and self-similarity-and provide an overview of their structure-function relationships. Unlike human-engineered machines and actuators, biological counterparts may appear suboptimal in design, loosely complying with physical theories or engineering principles. We postulate what factors may influence the evolution of functional morphology and anatomy to dissect and comprehend better the why behind the biological forms.
期刊介绍:
The Annual Review of Plant Biology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Annual Reviews. It has been in publication since 1950 and covers significant developments in the field of plant biology, including biochemistry and biosynthesis, genetics, genomics and molecular biology, cell differentiation, tissue, organ and whole plant events, acclimation and adaptation, and methods and model organisms. The current volume of this journal has been converted from gated to open access through Annual Reviews' Subscribe to Open program, with all articles published under a CC BY license.