Design of a unidirectional water valve in Tillandsia
| Autor: | Jacques Dumais, Pascal S. Raux, Simon Gravelle |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Materials science Science Microfluidics Evaporation General Physics and Astronomy 02 engineering and technology Osmosis 01 natural sciences General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Article Biomimetic Materials Semipermeable membrane Chile Absorption (electromagnetic radiation) lcsh:Science Multidisciplinary Tillandsia biology Desert climate Bioinspired materials Water Membranes Artificial General Chemistry Trichomes 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology biology.organism_classification Trichome Plant Leaves Membrane Microscopy Fluorescence Chemical physics Permeation and transport lcsh:Q Desert Climate 0210 nano-technology 010606 plant biology & botany |
| Zdroj: | Nature Communications, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2020) Nature Communications |
| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41467-019-14236-5 |
| Popis: | The bromeliad Tillandsia landbeckii thrives in the Atacama desert of Chile using the fog captured by specialized leaf trichomes to satisfy its water needs. However, it is still unclear how the trichome of T. landbeckii and other Tillandsia species is able to absorb fine water droplets during intermittent fog events while also preventing evaporation when the plant is exposed to the desert’s hyperarid conditions. Here, we explain how a 5800-fold asymmetry in water conductance arises from a clever juxtaposition of a thick hygroscopic wall and a semipermeable membrane. While absorption is achieved by osmosis of liquid water, evaporation under dry external conditions shifts the liquid-gas interface forcing water to diffuse through the thick trichome wall in the vapor phase. We confirm this mechanism by fabricating artificial composite membranes mimicking the trichome structure. The reliance on intrinsic material properties instead of moving parts makes the trichome a promising basis for the development of microfluidics valves. The valve-like trichomes of the desert plant Tillandsia landbeckii allow water acquisition from fog while minimising transpiration. Here, Raux et al. show that a hygroscopic cell-wall adjacent to a semi-permeable plasma membrane at the base of the trichome confers this asymmetry in water conductance. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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