Especially in plants, when trying to understand morphogenesis, mechanics should be factored in. In fact:
(i) the cell wall withstands high forces under the action of turgor pressure;
(ii) the cell wall is made of a complex structure conferring to it non-homogeneous and anisotropic mechanical properties, which can also vary dynamically;
(iii) growth occurs symplastically, with cells not able to freely slide one w.r.t. each other, so that residual stresses are introduces to accommodate different rates and directions of growth;
(iv) there is good evidence that growth in plant cells is affected by their state of tension and compression.
For these reasons, a deep understanding of plant morphogenesis requires to include bio-mechanics and the in-silico approach is a valuable tool to disentangle virtually the effect of the different elements (i.e. signaling, cell intrinsic mechanics, cell shape, tissue conflict effects..)
