A mathematical model of a single seed oleosome

In this work we report for the first time a mathematical approach to model the behaviour of a single oleosome (oil body) within a seed cellular environment. To describe the behaviour of the oleosome membrane, we adopted a dynamical continuum model based on the principle of the virtual work where the intrinsic energy of the lipid membrane is assumed to obey the Canham–Helfrich model with the rheology of the viscous interface governed by the Boussinesq–Scriven law. To show the suitability of this approach to study the mechanical behaviour of oleosomes, we present some numerical simulations of a single oleosome deformation occurring under in vivo and ex vivo conditions. This work aims to show how the mathematical and computational modelling allows studying the impact of otherwise hard-to-measure physical quantities in this field of biological applications.