title: Cellulose synthase complexes act in a concerted fashion to synthesize highly aggregated cellulose in secondary cell walls of plants.
abstract: Cellulose, often touted as the most abundant biopolymer on Earth, is a critical component of the plant cell wall and is synthesized by plasma membrane-spanning cellulose synthase (CESA) enzymes, which in plants are organized into rosette-like CESA complexes (CSCs). Plants construct two types of cell walls, primary cell walls (PCWs) and secondary cell walls (SCWs), which differ in composition, structure, and purpose. Cellulose in PCWs and SCWs is chemically identical but has different physical characteristics. During PCW synthesis, multiple dispersed CSCs move along a shared linear track in opposing directions while synthesizing cellulose microfibrils with low aggregation. In contrast, during SCW synthesis, we observed swaths of densely arranged CSCs that moved in the same direction along tracks while synthesizing cellulose microfibrils that became highly aggregated. Our data support a model in which distinct spatiotemporal features of active CSCs during PCW and SCW synthesis contribute to the formation of cellulose with distinct structure and organization in PCWs and SCWs of Arabidopsis thaliana This study provides a foundation for understanding differences in the formation, structure, and organization of cellulose in PCWs and SCWs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
authors.forename: Shundai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
authors.forename: Logan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bashline
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
authors.forename: Yunzhen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
authors.forename: Xiaoran
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering and Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
authors.forename: Shixin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Zhaosheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering and Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
authors.forename: Seong H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; dcosgrove@psu.edu yug13@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Cosgrove
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; dcosgrove@psu.edu yug13@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000201:enzymology; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D002482:Cellulose / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D005964:Glucosyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D020894:Microfibrils / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D002482:Cellulose; D005964:Glucosyltransferases; C478648:cellulose synthase
keywords: cellulose microfibrils; cellulose synthase complex; live-cell imaging; plasma membrane; protein dynamics