Functional Genomics of Hemicellulose Biosynthesis

植物细胞壁在植物的发育、抗病性和细胞间通讯中起着至关重要的作用。 对细胞壁生物合成的基本理解具有潜在的实际应用，包括开发能够更好地抵御病原体的作物和提供增强的营养属性或用于各种工业用途的新聚合物产品的植物。该项目旨在了解半纤维素多糖，一种在植物细胞壁中发现的特殊类型的聚合物，是如何合成的。 细胞壁生物合成需要数百种酶，但只有少数这些蛋白质和编码它们的基因已被确定和表征。 通过采用基因组学，蛋白质组学和生物信息学工具的策略，主要研究人员将确定参与植物细胞壁合成的候选基因并评估其功能。 这些研究将在三个植物系统中进行：棉花纤维细胞在发育期间，其中大量的初级细胞壁成分被制造;正在发育的金莲花种子，储存大量的木葡聚糖，一种主要的细胞壁成分;以及水稻组织正在快速生长。 水稻被选为植物系统之一，因为最近完成的水稻基因组序列将有助于将与细胞壁生物合成相关的蛋白质与其各自的基因序列相匹配。 主要研究人员希望确定参与细胞壁生物合成许多方面的基因，并将其结果和资源免费提供给植物生物学界的研究人员。 该项目将为本科生、研究生和博士后研究人员提供有价值的培训。 它还将为代表性不足的学生提供夏季实验室经验。

Plant cell walls play crucial roles in the development of plants, their resistance to diseases, and communication between cells. A fundamental understanding of cell wall biosynthesis has potential practical applications, including the development of crops plants better able to fend off pathogens and of plants that provide enhanced nutritional attributes or new polymer products for various industrial uses. This project is aimed at understanding how hemicellulosic polysaccharides, a particular class of polymers found in plant cell walls, are synthesized. Cell wall biosynthesis requires hundreds of enzymes, but only a few of these proteins and the genes that encode them have been identified and characterized. Through strategies employing the tools of genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics, the principal investigators will identify candidate genes involved in the synthesis of plant cell walls and evaluate their function. The studies will be conducted in three plant systems: cotton fiber cells during a period of development in which large quantities of primary cell wall components are manufactured; developing nasturtium seeds that store large quantities of xyloglucan, a major cell wall component; and rice tissues undergoing rapid growth. Rice is chosen as one of the plant systems because the recent completion of the rice genome sequence will aid in matching the proteins linked to cell wall biosynthesis with their respective gene sequences. The principal investigators expect to identify genes involved in many aspects of cell wall biosynthesis and will make their results and resources freely available to researchers in the plant biology community. The project will provide valuable training for undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral research associates. It will also provide summer laboratory experiences for underrepresented students.