Approaches to understanding the functional architecture of the plant cell wall

Cell wall polysaccharides are some of the most complex biopolymers known, a nd yet their functions remain largely mysterious. Advances in imaging metho ds permit direct visualisation of the molecular architecture of cell walls and the modifications that occur to polymers during growth and development. To address the structural and functional relationships of individual cell wall components, we need to better characterise a broad range of structural and architectural alterations in cell walls, appearing as a consequence of developmental regulation, environmental adaptation or genetic modification . We have developed a rapid method to screen large numbers of plants For a broad range of cell wall phenotypes using Fourier transform infrared micros pectroscopy and Principal Component Analysis. We are using model systems to uncover the genes that encode some of the cell-wall-related biosynthetic a nd hydrolytic enzymes, and structural proteins. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.