Annual Plant Reviews The Plant Cell Wall

Annual Plant Reviews, Volume 8 In the last few years, the new analytical tools associated withmolecular biology, biochemistry, spectroscopy, microscopy,immunology, genomics and proteomics have been employed toinvestigate plant cell wall structure and function, providing adegree of resolution that was, until recently, unattainable. Thishas resulted in a growing awareness of the critical role of plantcell walls in a broad range of developmental events, addingstrength and diversity to cell wall-related scientificresearch. This volume provides an overview of our current understanding ofplant cell walls, drawing on the recent advances of plant molecularbiology. It incorporates the identification of a rapidly growingnumber of genes and the proteins responsible for plant wallsynthesis, restructuring, degradation and wall-associated signaltransduction. The book bridges the biochemistry-oriented cell wallliterature and the new technology-driven approaches. This is a book for academic and industrial researchers in plantcell biology, biochemistry, developmental biology, genetics andmolecular biology.

Cell separation is an important process that occurs throughout the life cycle of a plant. It enables the radicle to emerge from the germinating seed, vascular tissue to differentiate, sculpturing of leaves and flowers to take place, pollen to be shed from the mature anther, fruit to soften, senescent and non-functional organs to be lost, and seeds to be shed. In addition to its intrinsic scientific interest, many of the developmental processes to which it contributes have importance for agriculture and horticulture. This is the first volume to focus exclusively on these processes and to link improvements in our scientific understanding with methods that may allow us to manipulate cell separation and adhesion to the benefit of the agricultural and horticultural industries. It will therefore be of interest to the experimental scientist and to those who wish to apply these techniques commercially.

Annual Plant Reviews, Volume 13 Plastids are essential plant organelles, vital for life on earth. They are important not just as photosynthetic organelles (chloroplasts) but also as sites involved in many fundamental intermediary metabolic pathways. Over the last decade, plastid research has seen tremendous advances and an exciting new picture is emerging of how plastids develop and function inside plant cells. The recent and rapid progress in the field has been due largely to reverse genetic approaches and forward genetic screening programs, which have resulted in the dissection of numerous chloroplast protein-function relationships. This book provides an overview of the current state of the art. It is directed at researchers and professionals in plant physiology, cell biology, genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry.

Annual Plant Reviews, Volume 12 A fundamental feature of developmental biology is that of theestablishment of polarity. It can be described at different levels- polarity of the organism, polarity in tissue patterning and organdevelopment, and polarity of the cell. This volume provides an account of current research into themechanisms by which polarity is generated at the level of the cell,organ and organism in plants, drawing especially on recent workwith model organisms.The emphasis is on the use of the techniquesof molecular genetics to dissect molecular mechanisms. This is the first volume to bring together the diverse aspects ofpolarity in plant development. It is directed at researchers andprofessionals in plant developmental biology, cell biology andmolecular biology. Visit www.blackwellplantsci.com the plant science site fromBlackwell Publishing.

Plant Polysaccharides, an exceptional new volume in Wiley-Blackwell’s successful Annual Plant Reviews series, covers the polysaccharides and proteins that form the fundamental architecture of the plant cell wall, and the genes that encode the cellular machinery that synthesizes them. The volume focuses on the evolution of the many families of genes whose products are required to make a particular kind of polysaccharide, bringing attention to the specific biochemical properties of the proteins to the level of kinds of sugar linkages they make. Beautifully illustrated in full colour throughout, this exceptional new volume provides cutting edge up-to-date information on such important topics as cell wall biology, composition and biosynthesis, glycosyltransferases, hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins, enzymatic modification of plant cell wall polysaccharides, glycan engineering in transgenic plants, and polysaccharide nanobiotechnology. Drawing together some of the world’s leading experts in these areas, the editor, Peter Ulvskov, has provided a landmark volume that is essential reading for plant and crop scientists, biochemists, molecular biologists and geneticists. All libraries in universities and research establishments where plant sciences, agriculture, biological, biochemical and molecular sciences are studied and taught should have copies of this important volume.

Annual Plant Reviews, Volume 16 Intercellular communication in plants plays a vital role in the co-ordination of processes leading to the formation of a functional organism. The signalling systems must function at a local level to co-ordinate events of cellular differentiation, over long distances to co-ordinate developmental and physiological responses in different parts of the plant, and they must even operate between separate individuals - for example, to control fertilization as part of the evolutionary strategy of a particular species. To cope with the diverse requirements for intercellular signalling, plants have evolved a spectrum of molecular mechanisms, and significant progress has been made over the last few years in our understanding of these processes. This volume provides an overview of our current understanding of intercellular communication in plants, with an emphasis on those research areas showing significant recent progress and promise. It is directed at researchers and professionals in plant biochemistry, physiology, cell biology and molecular biology.

Annual Plant Reviews, Volume 10 The cytoskeleton is a dynamic filamentous structure composed of at least actin and microtubule networks. Actin and microtubules are no different structurally from their animal and fungal counterparts. However, the strategies of cell differentiation and development in plants require this network to respond appropriately to plant-specific developmental cues and to environmental factors. This book views the cytoskeleton from different perspectives but, on the whole, as a network composed of structural and regulatory proteins controlled by internal and external stimuli that result in different aspects of cell differentiation. This is a volume for researchers and professionals in plant biochemistry, cell biology and genetics.

The proteome comprises all protein species resulting from geneexpression in a cell, organelle, tissue or organism. By definition,proteomics aims to identify and characterise the expressionpattern, cellular location, activity, regulation,post-translational modifications, molecular interactions, threedimensional structures and functions of each protein in abiological system. In plant science, the number of proteome studies is rapidlyexpanding after the completion of the Arabidopsis thaliana genomesequence, and proteome analyses of other important or emergingmodel systems and crop plants are in progress or are beinginitiated. Proteome analysis in plants is subject to the sameobstacles and limitations as in other organisms, but the nature ofplant tissues, with their rigid cell walls and complex variety ofsecondary metabolites, means that extra challenges are involvedthat may not be faced when analysing other organisms. This volume aims to highlight the ways in which proteome analysishas been used to probe the complexities of plant biochemistry andphysiology. It is aimed at researchers in plant biochemistry,genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics who wish to gain anup-to-date insight into plant proteomes, the information plantproteomics can yield and the directions plant proteome research istaking.