Mastering Exterior Decoration: Insights into the Synthesis & Regulation of Grass Cell Walls
By Laura Bartley, Associate Professor, Dept. of Microbiology and Plant Biology, University of Oklahoma
Date: April 13, 12-1pm
Location: W.B. Young 002
Grasses have evolved distinct cell wall composition and patterning relative to dicotyledonous plants. However, both the enzymes that modify grass walls and their transcriptional regulation are poorly understood in this economically and ecologically important plant family. Reverse genetics and heterologous expression experiments pinpoint a group of so-called BAHD acyltransferases that add phenylpropanoid “decorations” to grass cell wall precursors, altering wall properties. Combining knowledge of grass cell wall synthesis with a novel whole genome network for rice identifies a number of conserved and new cell wall regulators, many of which we were able to experimentally verify. Comparing the rice network and an equivalent Arabidopsis thaliana network suggests that grass orthologs of most genetically verified dicot cell wall regulators also have roles in wall synthesis in grasses, including for regulating grass-specific synthesis genes. Nonetheless, conserved regulators appear to vary in importance and function between these divergent species. The results may be applied to controlling grass cell wall composition for improving biofuel production efficiency and other uses.
Seminar series co-sponsored by:
Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture and PLANTalks
For more information, contact: Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at psla@uconn.edu