| Abstract Detail
Cell Walls Hunter, C.T.III [1], Lu, C-A [2], Avigne, WT [2], Huang, L-F [2], Ibekwa, E [2], McCarty, Donald R [2], Vermerris, WE [3], Carpita, Nicholas C [4], Koch, KE [2]. Phenotypic analysis of Cellulose Synthase-Like gene knockout alleles in maize. Cellulose Synthase-Like (CSL) genes represent the most likely candidates for encoding enzymes that synthesize backbones of the diverse hemicelluloses found in plant cell walls. This has recently been demonstrated for members of the CSLA and CSLF subfamilies, but functions of other CSL subfamilies remain unclear. Analysis of maize plants carrying transposon-induced “knockout” alleles of specific CSL genes can help define their roles in the distinctive type-II cell walls of grasses. The UniformMu maize population is being screened via reverse genetics to identify Mu transposon insertions in specific CSL genes. Thus far, Mu transposon insertions have been identified in CSLA6, CSLA7, CSLC7, CSLD1, CSLD2, and CSLD4. Phenotypic screens and cell wall compositional analyses are being conducted for mutant versus wildtype plants in highly-uniform backgrounds resulting from continuous introgression of the population into a W22 inbred. Side-by-side comparisons of whole-plant, organ-specific, and microscopic features are being performed. No significant differences have yet been observed in field grown plants with insertions in CSLA6 or CSLA7, but further analyses are currently underway. Phenotypic analysis of CSLC7, CSLD2, and CSLD4 are just being initiated. A phenotype involving root hair elongation has been observed in homozygous mutants of CSLD1. The link between this phenotype and the insertion in CSLD1 has been supported by analysis of a second transposon-induced allele obtained from the Ac/Ds collection of Tom Brutnell’s lab (Cornell University). This phenotype appears analogous to that of the Arabidopsis “kojak” mutant in which root hairs initiate but fail to elongate normally. This may represent the first example of conservation of mutant phenotype between genes involved in type-I and type-II cell walls.
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1 - University of Florida, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, 1301 FIfield Hall, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
2 - University of Florida, Horticultural Sciences
3 - University of Florida, Botany
4 - Purdue University, Botany and Plant Pathology
Keywords:
Cellulose Synthase Like
CSL
uniformMu
hemicellulose.
Presentation Type: Plant Biology Abstract
Session: P
Location: Exhibit Hall (Northeast, Southwest & Southeast)/Hilton
Date: Sunday, July 8th, 2007
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: P17045
Abstract ID:2238 |
