Plant toughness: Key to cracking biofuels?
Along with photosynthesis, the plant cell wall is one of the features that most set plants apart from animals. A structural molecule called cellulose is necessary for the manufacture of these walls. Cellulose is synthesized in a semi-crystalline state that is essential for its function in the cell wall function, but the mechanisms controlling its crystallinity are poorly understood. New research from a team including current and former Carnegie scientists David Ehrhardt (Carnegie), Ryan Gutierrez (Carnegie), Chris Somerville (U.C. Berkeley), Seth Debolt (U. Kentucky), Dario Bonetta (U. Ontario) and Jose Estevez (U. de Buenos Aires) reveals key information about this process, as well as a means to reduce cellulose crystallinity, which is a key stumbling block in biofuels development. Their work is published online by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for the week of February 20-24.