Abstract
REVIEWING work by Rayle et al.1 a correspondent has written2 that plant cell growth is a simple process, and continues, “There is a strong osmotic tendency for water to enter a … growing cell, but this is prevented by the rigidity of the cellulose walls”. (Hydroxyproline bridges in the wall limiting growth are located in the amorphous matrix; hence a unique role of cellulose as resistance in the wall is questionable3.) The first sentence is dubious. Cleland4, however, has expounded the matter: “This potential for extension can … be converted by turgor pressure into … wall extension”. This adds to the doubts because the rigidity of the walls preventing the entry of water is the cause of the turgor pressure, which arises as a consequence of the resistance of the wall to an expansion. How then can the turgor pressure cause expansion? A simple answer is given by Green et al.5: “Plant cell growth is … believed to be the result of a driving force, turgor pressure, acting on a yielding cell wall”. Many authors prior to them have written the same for 40 years, usually without the cautious “believed to be”.
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Cleland, R., Science, 160, 192 (1968).
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Burström, H. G., Uhrström, I., and Olausson, B., Physiol. Plant., 23, 1223 (1970).
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BURSTRÖM, H. Wishful Thinking of Turgor. Nature 234, 488 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/234488a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/234488a0
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