Molecular mechanisms underlying plant cell death in response to cell wall stress

近年来，人们对高纤维素含量植物的生产产生了浓厚的兴趣，这些植物可以作为生物燃料原料的可再生来源。纤维素是在植物细胞壁中发现的一种复合糖，它与半纤维素、果胶和结构或调节蛋白有关。植物细胞壁形成细胞外基质，对保护植物细胞免受环境因素和病原体入侵至关重要。植物细胞壁的确切组成和结构在植物生长发育过程中会发生变化，并在各种不利条件下进行修饰，以保证植物的生长和生存。有趣的是，植物细胞可以逐渐适应由纤维素合成抑制剂引起的细胞壁应激。尽管如此，细胞壁的合成和组织中的重要扰动可能导致细胞死亡。

Recently, a lot of interest has focused on the production of plants with high cellulose content that could be used as renewable source of biofuel feed stock. Cellulose is a complex sugar found in plant cell walls, where it is associated with hemicellulose, pectins and structural or regulatory proteins. Plant cell walls form an extracellular matrix essential to protect plant cells from environmental factors and invading pathogens. The exact composition and structure of plant cell walls change during plant growth and development and can also be modified in response to various adverse conditions to ensure plant growth and survival. Interestingly, plant cells can progressively be adapted to cell wall stress caused by inhibitors of cellulose synthesis. Nonetheless, important perturbations in the synthesis and organisation of the cell wall may lead to cell death. This research will study how cell wall modifications such as those caused by reduced cellulose synthesis are perceived by plant cells. Cell wall modifications will be induced in the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana using inhibitors of cellulose synthesis. We will also determine how these perturbations can activate cell repair and compensatory mechanisms or may lead to cell death. This study will bring important information on the mechanisms used by plant cells to respond to cell wall damage as induced by wounding or pathogens. This information may also be useful for the optimization of bioenergy crops and their cell walls for industrial processing.