RCN: Plant Cell Wall Biosynthesis Research Network

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY A "Plant Cell Wall Biosynthesis Research Network" (WallBioNet) will be established. The goals of WallBioNet are to: (1) Create and maintain a web site to serve as an information resource for researchers studying plant cell wall biosynthesis. (2) Coordinate and partially support the acquisition of substrates needed for polysaccharide biosynthesis as well as for other enzymes involved in the overall process of plant cell wall biosynthesis. (3) Develop a mechanism for the exchange of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers between laboratories that use different techniques to study plant cell wall biosynthesis. (4) Organize and provide partial support for small workshop-symposia to develop and define the goals and direction for wall biosynthesis research for the next decade. (5) Establish a group that will suggest nomenclature rules for the naming of authentic plant cell wall biosynthetic genes and mutants. The WallBioNet web site will be coordinated and managed by the PI at Michigan State University. The production and distribution of donor and acceptor substrates will be coordinated and managed by the Co-PI at the Complex Carbohdyrate Research Center. Decisions regarding the content and format of the WallBioNet web site, the allocation of funds, nomination of a nomenclature committee, and organization of the WallBioNet workshop-symposium will be made by a Steering Committee whose members represent diverse areas of cell wall biosynthesis. The WallBioNet will encourage researchers from diverse disciplines to work together to identify wall biosynthetic genes and to understand how the multiple enzymes work together to synthesize the plant cell wall. Core Participants: Daniel Cosgrove, Penn State Univ; reorganization of the wall matrix by expansins Deborah Delmer, University of California, Davis; cellulose biosynthesis Kenneth Keegstra, Michigan State Univ; xyloglucan biosynthesis Debra Mohnen, Univ of Georgia; pectin biosynthesis Chris Somerville, Carnegie Institute of Washington; genetic and genomic approaches Mary Tierney, University of Vermont; biosynthesis of wall structural proteins 0090281