Background
Pyropia haitanensis thalli, which are made of a single layer of polygonal cells, are a perfect model for studying the morphogenesis of multi-celled organisms because their cell proliferation process is an excellent example of the manner in which cells control their geometry to create a two-dimensional plane.
Methods
Cellular geometries of thalli at different stages of growth revealed by light microscope analysis.
Results
This study showed the cell division transect the middle of the selected paired-sides to divide the cell into two equal portions, thus resulting in cell sides ≥4 and keeping the average number of cell sides at approximately six even as the thallus continued to grow, such that more than 90% of the cells in thalli longer than 0.08 cm had 5–7 sides. However, cell division could not fully explain the distributions of intracellular angles. Results showed that cell-division-associated fast reorientation of cell sides and cell divisions together caused 60% of the inner angles of cells from longer thalli to range from 100–140°. These results indicate that cells prefer to form regular polygons.
Conclusions
This study suggests that appropriate cell-packing geometries maintained by cell division and reorientation of cell walls can keep the cells bordering each other closely, without gaps.
Shape and Symmetry Determine Two-Dimensional Melting Transitions of Hard Regular Polygons
