title: Genetic dissection of plant cell-wall biosynthesis.
abstract: The plant cell wall is a complex structure consisting of a variety of polymers including cellulose, xyloglucan, xylan and polygalacturonan. Biochemical and genetic analysis has made it possible to clone genes encoding cellulose synthases (CesA). A comparison of the predicted protein sequences in the Arabidopsis genome indicates that 30 divergent genes with similarity to CesAs exist. It is possible that these cellulose synthase-like (Csl) proteins do not contribute to cellulose synthesis, but rather to the synthesis of other wall polymers. A major challenge is, therefore, to assign biological function to these genes. In an effort to address this issue we have systematically identified T-DNA or transposon insertions in 17 Arabidopsis Csls. Phenotypic characterization of "knock-out" mutants includes the determination of spectroscopic profile differences in mutant cell walls from wild-type plants by Fourier-transform IR microscopy. A more precise characterization includes cell wall fractionation followed by neutral sugar composition analysis by anionic exchange chromatography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305, U.S.A.
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Bonetta
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Facette
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Raab
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Somerville
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism*; D017343:Genes, Plant; D009154:Mutation; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins