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CNW-Wheat: A Functional-Structural Plant Model Integrating Metabolic and Hydraulic Interactions in Grass Leaf Growth
Victoria Acker1, Jean-Louis Durand1, Tom de Swaef2
1INRAE, UR P3F, F-86600 Lusignan, France.
Journal of Experimental Botany
|May 27, 2026
Summary
A new model simulates grass leaf growth, integrating metabolism and water flow. This framework, CNW-Wheat, reveals how organ-level processes drive leaf plasticity and responses to drought, aiding genetic and environmental interaction studies.
Area of Science:
- Plant Biology
- Computational Biology
- Agricultural Science
Background:
- Leaf growth is crucial for plant energy balance, carbon/nitrogen content, and water status, showing plasticity across environments.
- Understanding the coordination of metabolic and hydraulic constraints in leaf growth plasticity is essential.
- It remains to be demonstrated if plasticity arises from organ-level resource availability and water status.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel model integrating leaf morphogenesis, carbon-nitrogen metabolism, and water flow at the organ level within a 3D plant architecture.
- To investigate how metabolic and hydraulic constraints coordinate to determine leaf growth plasticity.
- To evaluate the model's ability to simulate leaf growth patterns and responses to drought.
Main Methods:
- Developed a 3D plant architecture model (CNW-Wheat) integrating leaf morphogenesis, C-N metabolism, and water flow (phloem/xylem).
- Simulated leaf elongation in two phases: initial co-regulation by metabolites/xylem potential, and turgor-driven growth influenced by osmotic potential.
- Validated the model against experimental data for winter wheat (Triticum aestivum).
Main Results:
- The model successfully simulated complex leaf elongation patterns, diurnal variations, and resource allocation gradients in winter wheat.
- Dynamic coupling of turgor-driven expansion and C-N substrate deposition emerged as key drivers of leaf growth plasticity.
- Simulations confirmed the model's capacity to predict plant physiology and leaf growth responses under drought conditions.
Conclusions:
- The CNW-Wheat model provides a functional framework for exploring genotype-by-environment (G×E) interactions in plant growth.
- Organ-level resource availability and water status are sufficient to explain leaf growth plasticity.
- The integrated modeling approach advances our understanding of plant responses to environmental factors like drought.
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