Professor Staffan Persson

Section for Plant Glycobiology

Thorvaldsensvej 40

1871 Frederiksberg C

staffan.persson@plen.ku.dk

Title: How to build new types of plant cell walls

Host: Professor Dabing Zhang

Time: 2023-05-17, 9:30 AM (Beijing zone)

Address: Shuhua Hall, School of Life Science and Biotechnology, SJTU

Abstract:

All plant cells are surrounded by polysaccharide-based extracellular matrices, called cell walls. These walls underpin cell morphology, thus providing the driving force for plant architecture and protecting plants against their environment. The cell wall polysaccharides are divided into three main classes; pectins, hemicelluloses and cellulose, that together with proteins, ions and sometimes hydrophobic polymers form the cell walls. Nevertheless, the cell wall content and organization can vary substantially across different species, and also across tissues and cell types within a single species. Altering cell wall content and organization may therefore change what a plant looks like and the functional aspects of plant cells. In this talk I will outline efforts done to change transcriptional programs that drive cell wall synthesis to alter cell wall structures and plant growth. I will also summarize new ways to rapidly identify protein-protein interactions in plant cells to decipher protein complexes involved in cell wall synthesis, and how we can use this information to appreciate regulatory aspects of cell wall synthesis.