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SUMMARY:First steps in manipulating cell wall polysaccharide synthesis: fu
 nctional and industrial implications - Dr Paul Dupree\, University of Camb
 ridge
DTSTART:20080228T160000Z
DTEND:20080228T170000Z
UID:TALK9400@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:3901
DESCRIPTION:Plant cell wall polysaccharides have important roles in growth
 \, development\, and resistance to pathogens. They are also of enormous im
 portance in industry and agriculture\, being substantial components of hum
 an and animal food\, and determine the yield and properties of timber\, pa
 per and pulp. Recently\, there has been great interest in using the polysa
 ccharides as a source of renewable bioenergy\, for example by degrading th
 em to monosaccharides and fermenting to ethanol. Most plant cell wall poly
 saccharides are synthesized in the Golgi apparatus by a largely unknown se
 t of enzymes. We do not understand either the role of the different wall c
 omponents or how they might be altered to improve their properties for the
  various applications. To discover proteins involved in the synthesis of t
 hese glycans and in their sorting to the plasma membrane\, we have been an
 alyzing the protein composition of the Golgi apparatus by developing new p
 roteomics tools. We have identified putative glycosyltransferases\, sugar 
 transporters and other novel proteins in the Golgi apparatus in Arabidopsi
 s. We prioritise the study of candidates by integrating transcriptomic and
  proteomic datasets to predict function. We are studying the corresponding
  mutant plants using our enzymatic polysaccharide profiling technique PACE
 \, which reveals structure and quantity of oligosaccharides released by ce
 ll wall digestion. Plants with altered cell wall polysaccharides have rece
 ntly been identified.\n\nhttp://www.bio.cam.ac.uk/~dupree/
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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