[Pattern formation in microcosm: the role of self-assembly in complex biological envelopes development]

The data on the development of pollen/spore walls (of sporoderm) were reconsidered in the light of our hypothesis regarding a considerable role of self-assembling processes in the formation of this complex pattern. The premises that (1) glycocalyx (cell surface coating) is a self-assembling colloidal solution, and that (2) exine, formed on a glycocalyx framework, appears as a result of the self-assembly of the biopolymer (sporopollenin microemulsion), were independently suggested by the authors of this paper (Gabarayeva, 1990, 1993; Hemsley et al., 1992). Afterwards a joint hypothesis has been worked out which interpreted the processes of sporoderm development through regularities of colloidal chemistry. It was shown that all of the successive developmental stages, seen in transmission electron microscope (TEM) in the course of pollen wall development, correspond to successive micelle mesophases of a colloidal solution of surface-active substances which self-assemble when their concentration increases. Such an interpretation implies that all of the microstructures, observed in mature pollen walls (granules; rods-columellae; hexagonally packed layers of rods; bilayers, separated with a gap) are somewhat like "stiff history" of their appearance as a micellar sequence, immortalized by chemically resistant sporopollenin. Since self-assembling processes have nonlinear, spasmodic character, and microstructures of pollen wall, mentioned above, are arranged, as a rule, in successive layers, it has been suggested that these layers of heterogeneous microstructures occur as a result of the abrupt phase transitions typical for self-assembling micellar systems.