Plant Cortical Microtubule Array Organization.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。每个植物细胞都形成了碳水化合物材料的外壳，这些材料必须随着时间的推移进行拉伸和重塑，以创造细胞形状。 这些细胞形状的集体整合产生了植物形态。 该项目的目标是确定负责决定细胞扩增如何调节的关键分子因子。 被称为微管的小聚合物在细胞内形成临时模式，这些模式将碳水化合物沉积到细胞壁中。 反过来，这些碳水化合物模式在决定植物细胞如何扩展以创造组织，器官和最终植物形态方面发挥着重要作用。 该项目使用分子和细胞生物学技术来测试关于微管聚合物如何排列成植物发育的特定模式的假设。 作用于聚合物的蛋白质将它们修剪成一定的大小或将它们捆绑成超结构已经被鉴定，并且它们在形态发生期间在微管阵列图案化中的作用正在被评估。 该项目的成功完成将为植物生长的最基本机制提供关键性的见解。更广泛的影响：所研究的生长机制直接决定了作物紧凑的轴向生长习性，这是将光能有效转化为生物质的理想选择。 该项目将提供有关微管（一种常见的除草剂目标）和纤维素聚合物（例如生物燃料原料）在创建轴向植物形态中的作用的信息。 该项目为博士后研究员和研究生提供高级培训，使用最先进的成像技术和综合数学建模方法进行假设检验。 两名本科荣誉学生也将参加这个项目，获得宝贵的研究经验，对他们所陈述的职业目标。 为这项研究开发的生物材料正在纳入本科生荣誉生物学课程和研究生成像课程。 正在通过技术出版物、讲座和网络材料传播为三维延时成像和随后的定量分析开发的特殊技术。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Each individual plant cell forms an outer covering of carbohydrate materials that must be stretched and remodeled over time to create cell shape. The collective integration of those cell shapes gives rise to plant form. The goal of this project is to identify key molecular factors responsible for determining how cell expansion is regulated. Small polymers called microtubules form temporary patterns inside the cell which template the deposition of carbohydrates into the cell wall. Those carbohydrate patterns, in turn, play a significant role in determining how plant cells expand to create tissues, organs, and ultimately plant form. This project uses molecular and cell biological techniques to test hypotheses about how the microtubule polymers become arrayed into specific patterns for plant development. Proteins that act on the polymers to trim them to size or to bundle them into super-structures have been identified and their role in patterning the microtubule array during morphogenesis are being assessed. The successful completion of this project will provide critical insight into the most basic mechanisms of plant growth.Broader impacts: The growth mechanisms under study are directly responsible for the compact axial growth habit of crop plants desirable for efficient conversion of light energy to biomass. This project will provide information both about the role of the microtubules (a common herbicide target) and the organization of cellulose polymers (e.g. biofuels feedstock) in creating the axial plant morphology. This project provides advanced training for a post-doctoral research fellow and a graduate student using state of the art imaging technologies and integrated mathematical modeling approaches for hypothesis testing. Two undergraduate honors students will also participate in this project, gaining valuable research experience toward their stated professional goals. Biological materials developed for this research are being incorporated into an undergraduate honors biology course and a graduate imaging course. Special techniques developed for time-lapse imaging in 3-dimensions and subsequent quantitative analysis are being disseminated through technical publications, lectures, and web based materials.