Investigating the role of cellulose synthases in the biosynthesis and properties of cellulose in secondary cell walls
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Cellulose synthases are the enzymes responsible for the production of cellulose in plant cell walls. Mutations in any one of the Arabidopsis cellulose synthase (CesA) AtCesA4, AtCesA7, and AtCesA8 genes cause plants to develop collapsed xylem as a result of reduced cellulose content, demonstrating their critical role in secondary cell wall biosynthesis. A thorough characterization of the growth, cell wall properties, and cellulose ultrastructure of the AtCesA4irx⁵-¹, AtCesA7irx³-¹, and AtCesA8irx¹-¹ mutants, presented herein, is the first report of the changes to cellulose microfibril angle, cell wall crystallinity, and cellulose degree of polymerization (DP) in these mutants. This study suggests that the non-redundant functions of individual CesAs may be related to CesA-specific thresholds required for the formation of a cellulose synthesizing complex (CSC), and CesA-specific roles in regulating crystallinity and DP. Additionally, the results illustrate the importance of a fully formed CSC in regulating cellulose microfibril angle. By identifying and characterizing three new CesA genes from spruce (Picea glauca), PgCesA1, PgCesA2, and PgCesA3, which are homologous to the Arabidopsis AtCesA8, A4, and A7 and the Populus trichocarpa PtiCesA8-A, A4, and A7-A genes, respectively, the degree of functional conservation among AtCesA homologs was explored. Expression of PgCesA1 or the PtiCesAs in AtCesAirx plants rescued the collapsed xylem phenotype, thus demonstrating for the first time that orthologs of AtCesA4, A7, and A8 have conserved functions. Lastly, in planta techniques were used to measure interactions between AtCesAs to investigate if specific and consistent interactions exist. The results suggest that CesA8 and A4 can form homodimers in planta, and that there might be weak or transient interactions between AtCesA7-A4 and AtCesA7-A8. Collectively, the results presented suggest, indirectly, an unequal ratio of CesA subunits (AtCesA4:A7:A8) is required for proper cellulose biosynthesis, and that each CesA likely has a unique function which ultimately affects cellulose properties such as cell wall crystallinity and DP. Our conclusions shed new light on the role of CesAs in cellulose biosynthesis in secondary cell walls and elicit questions about the current model of CSC form and function.
Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.
How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".