Seminars

Plant polysaccharides are the most abundant organic compounds on the planet, providing us with food, materials and fuel. Yet, we know surprisingly little about their structure or how they are made. If humans are to reduce our reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels, then this knowledge is of utmost importance, as it will allow us to synthesise, isolate and modify these biopolymers to suit our needs. Additionally, polysaccharides have many different roles in plant growth and development, and we can now view the cell wall as a dynamic organelle in its own right.

My research focuses on how plants can build these exquisitely complex molecules without the aid of a template, and what happens if we try to alter these processes. In this talk, I will describe the characterisation of some Arabidopsis nucleotide sugar transporters, proteins which translocate substrates for polysaccharide biosynthesis into the Golgi apparatus. I will describe the effects on plant growth of modulating the activity of the transporters, including an unexpected impact on plant immunity. I will also discuss some of the challenges and questions arising as a result of efforts to metabolically engineer plants.