Regulation of cellulose synthase assembly and cellulose microfibril structure by STELLO proteins

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Cellulose, a major component of plant cell walls, provides strength to plant cell walls and is the most abundant organic polymer on Earth. Its application in everyday life is widespread, exemplified by our large-scale use of cotton, paper and timber. The applications are increasing for cellulose prepared from plant cell walls, replacing fossil oil-derived materials. For example, it can be used as a thickener in food and paints, and to make new textiles that might replace synthetic, plastic fabrics. Yet there are many aspects of cellulose biology and cellulose structure that are not understood. A better understanding of the cellulose fibres, how they are made, and how they differ in different plants, will help us make best use of this renewable resource. The molecular machine that spins cellulose fibres into the plant cell walls is a complicated structure. We recently discovered a new component of the machinery that makes cellulose in plants. In this research, we wish to understand how this new component, named STELLO, is able to influence the plant cellulose synthesis. In plants where STELLO does not work normally, we have found that the cellulose is defective. The plant walls are weak, and the components don't stick together normally. This discovery gives us an opportunity to study the effects on plants of having improper cellulose fibres in their walls. We will also exploit a newly developed technique, related to the magnetic resonance used in medicine, to study the shapes of cellulose and other cell wall molecules. With this technique we recently discovered how the material of the plant cell walls can assemble into fibres through precise complementarity of the molecular shapes, like pieces of a puzzle that snap together. In the plants without STELLO, it seems the shapes don't fit together properly. Studying this process therefore will reveal how the shape of cellulose is made, and in what ways it isimportant for plants and the materials we make from plants.