SUMMARY
To gain insight into why the majority of the embryos growing in liquid do not mature to produce a plant with embryogenesis method, the hydrodynamically-induced mechanical stress on the development of suspensor cells is proposed to be investigated. This doctoral research program proposes to establish the correlation between the shear stress and embryo development—specifically the capacity of the embryo to continue development and transition to maturation from the multiplication stage in liquid, with both experimental and computational work. The effect of shear stress, both steady and periodic shear stress, on the development of somatic embryos will be investigated in a flow chamber and evaluated at different time intervals using microscopy technique. The development of meristematic cells and effect on the localization of the suspensor cells that form during development of the immature embryos will be studied as a function of stresses to the initial cell aggregates. By comparing the temporal and spatial-averaged stress distribution on the surface based on computational simulations, with the distribution and growth rate of the meristematic and suspensor cells, the effect of stress on the embryo development will be established.