Pointillist structural color in Pollia fruit

Biological communication by means of structural color has existed for at least 500 million years. Structural color is commonly observed in the animal kingdom, but has been little studied in plants. We present a striking example of multilayer-based strong iridescent coloration in plants, in the fruit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2012-09, Vol.109 (39), p.15712-15715
Main Authors: Vignolini, Silvia, Rudall, Paula J, Rowland, Alice V, Reed, Alison, Moyroud, Edwige, Faden, Robert B, Baumberg, Jeremy J, Glover, Beverley J, Steiner, Ullrich
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological Sciences
Cell walls
Cellulose
Cellulose - metabolism
Color
Colors
Commelinaceae - physiology
Commelinaceae - ultrastructure
Flowers & plants
Fruit - physiology
Fruit - ultrastructure
Fruits
Handedness
Iridescence
Light
optical properties
Optical reflection
photonics
Physical Sciences
Pigmentation - physiology
Plants
plants (botany)
Signal reflection
Tissues
Zoology
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Summary:Biological communication by means of structural color has existed for at least 500 million years. Structural color is commonly observed in the animal kingdom, but has been little studied in plants. We present a striking example of multilayer-based strong iridescent coloration in plants, in the fruit of Pollia condensata . The color is caused by Bragg reflection of helicoidally stacked cellulose microfibrils that form multilayers in the cell walls of the epicarp. We demonstrate that animals and plants have convergently evolved multilayer-based photonic structures to generate colors using entirely distinct materials. The bright blue coloration of this fruit is more intense than that of any previously described biological material. Uniquely in nature, the reflected color differs from cell to cell, as the layer thicknesses in the multilayer stack vary, giving the fruit a striking pixelated or pointillist appearance. Because the multilayers form with both helicoidicities, optical characterization reveals that the reflected light from every epidermal cell is polarized circularly either to the left or to the right, a feature that has never previously been observed in a single tissue.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1210105109