Introduction

Research Groups

Select Research Group Head Prof. Sir Tom Blundell Prof. Kevin Brindle Dr Bill Broadhurst Dr Guy Brown Dr Mark Carrington Prof. Paul Dupree Prof. Gerard Evan - Head of Dept Prof. Richard Farndale Dr Giorgio Favrin Dr Jenny Gallop Dr Nick Gay Dr Andrew Grace Dr Jules Griffin Dr Brian Hendrich Dr Andrew Hesketh Dr Robin Hesketh Dr Matt Higgins Dr Florian Hollfelder Dr Hee-Jeon Hong Prof. Chris Howe Dr Marko Hyvonen Prof. Steve Jackson Dr Tony Jackson Prof. Richard Jackson Prof. Ernest Laue Prof. Peter Leadlay Dr Kathryn Lilley Dr Karen Lipkow Dr Rick Livesey Prof. Ben Luisi Dr Sarah Lummis Dr Juan Mata Dr John McCafferty Prof. Jim Metcalfe Dr Masanori Mishima Dr Eric Miska Dr Tom Monie Dr Helen Mott Dr Natasha Murzina Dr Daniel Nietlispach Dr Darerca Owen Prof. Steve Oliver Dr Luca Pellegrini Dr Markus Ralser Dr Nick Robinson Prof. George Salmond Dr Deirdre Scadden Dr José Silva Prof. Austin Smith Prof. Chris Smith Dr Nancy Standart Prof. Dame Jean Thomas Dr Aviva Tolkovsky Dr Martin Welch Dr Joyce Wong Dr Nianshu Zhang

Service & Research Support Facilities

Select by Subject or Manager DNA Sequencing Facility . . . . . Mr John Lester _______________________________ Quantitative Proteomics . . . . . Dr Kathryn Lilley _______________________________ Proteomics Core Services . . . . . Dr Mike Deery _______________________________ Protein & Nucleic Acid Chemistry . . . . . Dr Len Packman _______________________________ Metabolomics . . . . . Dr Jules Griffin _______________________________ Baculovirus Facility . . . . . Dr Darerca Owen _______________________________ Biophysics Facility . . . . . Dr Katherine Stott _______________________________ Crystallographic X-ray Facility . . . . . Dr Dima Chirgadze _______________________________ NMR spectroscopy . . . . . Dr Daniel Nietlispach _______________________________ Fermentation Facility . . . . . Dr Nianshu Zhang _______________________________ Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Services . . . . . Dr Jenny Barna _______________________________ Computer & IT Support . . . . . Dr Erik Timmers _______________________________

Past members last known active weblink

Select past member of Department Dr Stephen Bell Prof. Jonathan Blackburn Dr David Brown Dr Pak-Lee Chau Dr Hal Dixon (deceased) Dr Jessica Downs Prof. David Ellar Dr Paul Kemp Dr Simon Lovell Dr Kenji Mizuguchi Dr Massimo Paoli Prof. Richard Perham Dr Peter Reynolds Dr Philip Rubery Dr Gerry Smith Dr Margaret Sunde Prof. Jamie Vandenberg Dr Kira Weissman

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The extracellular matrix in plants – understanding cell wall biosynthesis

Research Groupings: Plant Biology | Structural and molecular cell biology

Plant cells change their surface dramatically during growth and differentiation. The extracellular matrix of plants, the plant cell wall, can both create signals and moderate the response to neighbouring cells of the plant. The strength and plasticity of plant cells are also determined by the components of the cell wall.

Our research is focused on understanding the biosynthesis and function of polysaccharide components of the plant cell wall. The cell wall polysaccharides are synthesized by an amazing variety of enzymes in the Golgi apparatus. Despite these polysaccharides being some of the most abundant on earth, and having enormous nutritional, agricultural, and industrial importance, surprisingly little is known about the genes and enzymes that carry out the synthesis. Crucial players in polysaccharide synthesis are sugar nucleotide transporters and glycosyltransferases in the Golgi lumen (See model).

We are studying the function of Golgi proteins involved in polymerization of sugars to produce the cell wall polysaccharides using functional genomic approaches. In order to identify candidate genes we use a combination of bioinformatic and proteomic approaches. By studying the composition of the extracellular matrix and the structural changes in specific polysaccharide components of mutant Arabidopsis plants, we are bit by bit deciphering the role of the individual proteins. Biochemical assays allow us to investigate the activities of individual proteins, complementing our understanding of gene function. In addition to this, our lab is developing new methods to investigate polysaccharide biosynthesis and structure (in collaboration with Kathryn Lilley, Cambridge Centre for Proteomics; and Elaine Stephens, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology).

The major focus of our research is the biosynthesis of xylans and glucomannans in different plant species. However, a variety of other projects are ongoing in the lab, such as the structural analysis of arabinogalactans. Our research underpins development of renewable materials, such as fuels from plants.

For more information please visit the group home page.

Lab members
Sandra Albrecht, Nadine Anders, Nuno Blanc, Jen Bromley, Marta Busse, Wendy Gibson, Peter Jackson, Ondrej Kosik, Xiaofei Li, Hui-Chung Liang, Jennifer Mortimer, Nino Nikolovski, Denis Rubtsov, Marcelo Segura, Theodora Tryfona, Xiaolan Yu, Zhinong Zhang

References