Author: Emily Conover / Source: Science News
Pollen grains sport a variety of snazzy shapes, from golf ball–like divots to prickly knobs or swirls that evoke a peppermint candy.
But these myriad patterns may all be due to one simple trick of physics, scientists report in the Feb. 7 Cell.That trick: phase separation, in which a mixture naturally breaks up into separate parts, like cream floating to the top of milk (SN: 7/21/18, p. 14). As pollen develops in a flowering plant, a material called primexine is deposited at the grain’s surface, inside a temporary cell wall. Formed from a mixture of materials including cellulose and pectin — the stuff that makes jam set…
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