Multiscale Modeling and Analysis of Growth of Plant Tissues

SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, Volume 83, Issue 6, Page 2354-2389, December 2023.
Abstract. How morphogenesis depends on cell properties is an active direction of research. Here, we focus on mechanical models of growing plant tissues, where microscopic (sub)cellular structure is taken into account. In order to establish links between microscopic and macroscopic tissue properties, we perform a multiscale analysis of a model of growing plant tissue with subcellular resolution. We use homogenization to rigorously derive the corresponding macroscopic tissue-scale model. Tissue-scale mechanical properties are computed from microscopic structural and material properties, taking into account deformation by the growth field. We then consider case studies and numerically compare the detailed microscopic model and the tissue-scale model, both implemented using the finite element method. We find that the macroscopic model can be used to efficiently make predictions about several configurations of interest. Our work will help making links between microscopic measurements and macroscopic observations in growing tissues.