mesophyll

Localized growth and remodeling drives spongy mesophyll morphogenesis

The spongy mesophyll is a complex, porous tissue found in plant leaves that enables carbon capture and provides mechanical stability. Unlike many other biological tissues, which remain confluent throughout development, the spongy mesophyll must …

Structural organization of the spongy mesophyll

Many plant leaves have two layers of photosynthetic tissue: the palisade and spongy meso- phyll. Whereas palisade mesophyll consists of tightly packed columnar cells, the structure of spongy mesophyll is not well characterized and often treated as a …

New paper showing genome downsizing critical to enabling higher mesophyll conductance

Genome size coordinates cell sizes and packing densities throughout the leaf

Maximum CO2 diffusion inside leaves is limited by the scaling of cell size and genome size

Maintaining high rates of photosynthesis in leaves requires efficient move- ment of CO2 from the atmosphere to the mesophyll cells inside the leaf where CO2 is converted into sugar. CO2 diffusion inside the leaf depends directly on the structure of …

Mesophyll Biomechanics

Characterizing the development, structure, and function of the mesophyll in leaves and flowers

Beyond porosity: 3D leaf intercellular airspace traits that impact mesophyll conductance

The leaf intercellular airspace (IAS) is generally considered to have high conductance to CO2 diffusion relative to the liquid phase. While previous studies accounted for leaf-level variation in porosity and mesophyll thickness, they omitted 3D IAS …