Abstract
Plants produce 180 billion tons of cellulose per year, which has
enormous commercial value in, for instance, wood. Cellulose
microfibrils are crystalline aggregates of linear polymers of Dglucopyranosyl
residues, linked in the beta-(1,4) conformation. The
architecture of microfibrils is cell type and developmental stage
specific, and a determinant of mechanical wall properties. Using a
systems biology approach, we have formulated a theory explaining
how cells can determine microfibril angle. This fully mathematical
developmental model quantitatively relates the deposition angle of
CMFs to (1) the density of active synthases in the plasma
membrane (N), (2) the distance between individual microfibrils
within a wall lamella (d) and (3) the geometry of the cell (D). The
model constructs all textures and predicts them, if [N], [d], and [D]
are known. By predicting texture when a parameter is altered, the
model is a design tool for production of plants with desirable traits
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Abstracts XVII International Botanical Congress, 17-23 July 2005, Vienna, Austria |
Pages | 297 |
Publication status | Published - 2005 |