Chapter 6: Invasive Processes in the Life Cycle of Plants and Fungi

Invasive growth is a common characteristic of a variety of cell types in all kingdoms, ranging from animals to plants, fungi, and bacteria. Invasion in a biological context can be commonly defined as penetration of a substrate by an actively elongating ‘invader’ (single cell or multicellular structure). Invasion requires force, which in the case of single cells is produced by cell mechanical features such as turgor pressure or the cytoskeleton. Invasion is often facilitated by agents employed to soften the invaded matrix, such as lytic enzymes. This review provides an overview of experimental strategies that have been developed to characterize this particular cellular behavior and to measure the invasive forces generated by tip-growing cells in plants and fungi.