School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 62 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637459, Singapore.
Nat Commun. 2020 Mar 19;11(1):1449. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15294-w.
Pollen's practically-indestructible shell structure has long inspired the biomimetic design of organic materials. However, there is limited understanding of how the mechanical, chemical, and adhesion properties of pollen are biologically controlled and whether strategies can be devised to manipulate pollen beyond natural performance limits. Here, we report a facile approach to transform pollen grains into soft microgel by remodeling pollen shells. Marked alterations to the pollen substructures led to environmental stimuli responsiveness, which reveal how the interplay of substructure-specific material properties dictates microgel swelling behavior. Our investigation of pollen grains from across the plant kingdom further showed that microgel formation occurs with tested pollen species from eudicot plants. Collectively, our experimental and computational results offer fundamental insights into how tuning pollen structure can cause dramatic alterations to material properties, and inspire future investigation into understanding how the material science of pollen might influence plant reproductive success.
花粉几乎坚不可摧的外壳结构长期以来激发了有机材料的仿生设计。然而，对于花粉的机械、化学和粘附特性如何受到生物控制，以及是否可以设计出超越自然性能极限的策略来操纵花粉，人们的理解有限。在这里，我们报告了一种通过重塑花粉壳将花粉粒转化为软质微凝胶的简便方法。花粉亚结构的明显改变导致了对环境刺激的响应，这揭示了亚结构特定材料特性的相互作用如何决定微凝胶的溶胀行为。我们对来自植物界的花粉粒的研究进一步表明，微凝胶的形成发生在测试的来自真双子叶植物的花粉物种上。总的来说，我们的实验和计算结果提供了关于如何调整花粉结构会导致材料性质发生显著变化的基本见解，并激发了对理解花粉的材料科学如何影响植物繁殖成功的进一步研究。
