[Seminars] PSB event reminder

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Calendar Name: seminars
Scheduled for: Tuesday, March 12 2013, 14:00 - 15:30
Event text:    Dr Staffan Persson
	       
	       Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology 
	       
	       Potsdam
	       GERMANY
Details:       “A blueprint for cellulose synthesis in higher plants”
	       
	       ABSTRACT
	       Cellulose is one of the most abundant and important
	       biopolymer on our planet. It provides rigidity for
	       anisotropic cell growth and plant morphology, and
	       constitutes an essential raw material for many important
	       industrial applications, including biofuels and
	       materials. Cellulose is synthesized by plasma membrane
	       located cellulose synthase (CesA) proteins that track
	       along cortical microtubules in elongating interphase
	       cells. We discovered the protein (CSI1/POM2) that
	       provides the functional link between the CesAs and the
	       microtubules. This discovery was partly based on the
	       similar expression, or co-expression of the CSI1/POM2
	       gene and the CesA genes. Interestingly, we have found
	       that many genes that are co-expressed with the CesA
	       genes indeed are important for cellulose production. We
	       extended this analysis and found that certain patterns
	       of functionally related genes formed co-expressed gene
	       modules, and that these modules have been duplicated and
	       subsequently sub-functionalized many times. Through
	       evolutionary estimates we could furthermore conclude
	       that these duplication events were associated with
	       specific events during plant evolution. We propose that
	       plants use the duplication of co-expressed gene modules
	       to create new functions through neo- or
	       sub-functionalization of members in the modules, and
	       that this may serve as a basis for the development of
	       new biological processes in plants.

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