Seminars

Fifty years ago, Ledbetter and Porter published the first images of cortical microtubules in plant cells and described the spatial relationship between microtubules and cellulose microfibrils that is critical for determining the direction of cell growth. Since then, researchers have sought to understand the mechanisms that control microtubule orientation patterns. Using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model system, my research team combines genetic, live cell imaging and computational modeling strategies to understand the process of
microtubule organization. In my seminar I will outline how we have come to understand microtubule orientation as a self-organization process, involving both inputs from collisions between microtubules and cellular geometry to determine cell-wide orientation patterns, which in turn are critical for morphogenesis and development.

Brandizzi and Wasteneys (2013) Cytoskeleton-dependent endomembrane organization in plant cells: an emerging role for microtubules. Plant J. 75: 339-349.
Ambrose et al. (2013) CLASP interacts with sorting nexin 1 to link microtubules and auxin transport via PIN2 recycling in Arabidopsis thaliana. Dev. Cell 24: 649-659.