Disentangling plant cell walls: the characterisation of dynamic polysaccharide interactions in the developing cell wall.

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Plant cell walls surround plant cells, providing structural support which is crucial to allows plants to achieve the diversity of forms we see in nature. Although cell walls are crucial for plant growth and development, they are extremely complex structures and there remains a remarkable amount to learn about the specific biochemical interactions within cell walls. It is becoming increasingly clear that different components of the cell wall interact with each other in a much more complex and dynamic way than previously thought, but the mechanistic significance of this to plant function is thus far unknown. The relative lack of mechanistic understanding of how the cell wall links to whole plant physiology means that very little progress has been made towards manipulating the cell wall, either by genetic modification or by breeding to improve plant performance, and this remains a highly under-exploited area. Cell wall-based biomass is of increasing interest to the biotechnology industry as it aims to provide alternatives to petroleum derived chemicals and materials. Cell wall materials can be deconstructed to individual polysaccharides or component sugars and then synthesised into a wide array of polymers and bio-based plastics and fibres. Companies are being driven towards bio-based by increasingly environmental based consumer choices but as yet many of these plant derived products are not commercially viable due to the challenges associated with deconstructing the cell wall. The cell wall is resistant to degradation and studies have shown that composition can vary widely in response to environmental perturbations making it challenging to predict the composition of biomass. Understanding how cell walls respond to environmental fluctuations and how this altered composition leads to changes in the inter-component interactions within the cell wall is crucially important, not only for maximising the potential of plant-based biotech industries but also for predicting crop responses to the increasingly variable environments predicted due to climate change. This project aims to use a range of molecular and biochemical techniques to understand the dynamic responses of cell walls in response to environmental variations. I will characterise composition and interactions within the developing cell wall and capture their dynamic properties over time. The project will unpick the genetic basis of these cell wall interactions and relate them to whole plant physiology to address the knowledge gap between cell wall biochemistry and downstream plant performance. To achieve these aims I will use a range of cross disciplinary techniques to identify and generate a panel of plants with altered cell-walls. I will screen this panel using monoclonal antibodies which bind specific cell wall components to identify the cell wall composition and their interactions. I will use plant physiology techniques, such as measuring gaseous exchange within the leaves, to link biochemical cell wall interactions to whole plant physiology and ultimately plant performance. The results emerging from this work will identify novel links between cell wall interactions and whole plant performance and characterise developing cell walls in an unprecedented level of detail. This will provide a strong foundational basis for future translation into crop systems and secondary cell walls.