Folding of Pollen Grains

At dehiscence, which occurs when the anther reaches maturity and opens, pollen grains dehydrate and their volume is reduced. The pollen wall deforms to accommodate the volume loss, and the deformation pathway depends on the initial turgid pollen grain geometry and the mechanical properties of the pollen wall. We demonstrate, using both experimental and theoretical approaches, that the design of the apertures (areas on the pollen wall where the stretching and the bending modulus are reduced) is critical for controlling the folding pattern, and ensures the pollen grain viability. An excellent fit to the experiments is obtained using a discretized version of the theory of thin elastic shells.