Plant Biomechanics Group AG Speck, Botanic Garden Uni-Freiburg, Schaenzlestrasse 1, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
J R Soc Interface. 2010 Sep 6;7(50):1383-9. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2010.0140. Epub 2010 May 12.
English ivy (Hedera helix L.) is able to grow on vertical substrates such as trees, rocks and house plaster, thereby attaching so firmly to the surface that when removed by force typically whole pieces of the climbing substrate are torn off. The structural details of the attachment process are not yet entirely understood. We studied the attachment process of English ivy in detail and suggest a four-phase process to describe the attachment strategy: (i) initial physical contact, (ii) form closure of the root with the substrate, (iii) chemical adhesion, and (iv) shape changes of the root hairs and form-closure with the substrate. These four phases and their variations play an important role in the attachment to differently structured surfaces. We demonstrate that, in English ivy, different mechanisms work together to allow the plant's attachment to various climbing substrates and reveal the importance of micro-fibril orientation in the root hairs for the attachment based on structural changes at the subcellular level.
常春藤（Hedera helix L.）能够在垂直的基质上生长，如树木、岩石和房屋灰泥，从而牢固地附着在表面上，以至于当被强制移除时，通常整个攀爬基质都会被撕裂下来。附着过程的结构细节尚不完全清楚。我们详细研究了常春藤的附着过程，并提出了一个四阶段过程来描述附着策略：（i）初始物理接触，（ii）根与基质的形态闭合，（iii）化学附着，以及（iv）根毛的形状变化和与基质的形态闭合。这四个阶段及其变化在不同结构表面的附着中起着重要作用。我们证明，在常春藤中，不同的机制共同作用，使植物能够附着在各种攀爬基质上，并揭示了根毛中微纤维取向在基于亚细胞水平结构变化的附着中的重要性。
