What is quantitative plant biology?

Abstract

Quantitative plant biology is an interdisciplinary field that builds on a long history of biomathematics and biophysics. Today, thanks to high spatiotemporal resolution tools and computational modelling, it sets a new standard in plant science. Acquired data, whether molecular, geometric or mechanical, are quantified, statistically assessed and integrated at multiple scales and across fields. They feed testable predictions that, in turn, guide further experimental tests. Quantitative features such as variability, noise, robustness, delays or feedback loops are included to account for the inner dynamics of plants and their interactions with the environment. Here, we present the main features of this ongoing revolution, through new questions around signalling networks, tissue topology, shape plasticity, biomechanics, bioenergetics, ecology and engineering. In the end, quantitative plant biology allows us to question and better understand our interactions with plants. In turn, this field opens the door to transdisciplinary projects with the society, notably through citizen science.

Fig. 1.

A quantitative revolution in plant science. Whereas molecular insights in plant biology could simply provide a molecular catalogue of plant ontology, the integration of mathematics and computational modelling has instead helped to identify new questions with the aim to unravel the principles of plant life. Hypotheses are formalised and tested in computational models, and results from simulations fuel further experimental analysis. Assessment of the validity of the results, from molecules to ecosystems, involves statistical validation and further quantitative exploration. Background image (Primula officinalis) taken from Atlas des plantes de France, A. Masclef, Paul Klincksieck Ed., Paris, 1890. Quantitative examples extracted from Verna et al., eLife; Chakrabortty et al., Curr. Biol.; Bastien et al., PNAS; Brestovitsky et al., Plant Direct; Zhao et al., Curr. Biol.; Woolfenden et al., Plant J; Cummins, Nature; Allard, Mol. Biol. Cell. and Fache et al., Plant Cell.

Fig. 2.

Examples of research topics at the crossroad between plant biology, physics and maths. Quantitative plant biology explores these topics, and the common mathematical framework allows their integration, across spatial and temporal scales. See main text for details.