Study of the growth of the hypocotyl from arabidopsis: towards the establishment of a growth model

Cellulose microfibrils newly synthethized form a rigid matrix well-organized around the plant cell, that allows to control with the cortical microtubules the cell elongation and plays threfore a key role in the plant morphogenesis. The intracellular trafficking of the catalytic subunit of cellulose synthase (CESA), enzymes that polymerize the elementary chains of cellulose, is highly regulated and controled in part by the CMT. However the link between the regulation of the intracellular trafficking of CESA, the orientation of CMF and CMT is still unclear. The objectives of the thesis are : (i) characterize in detail the intracellular trafficking of CESA, a key step to regulate the rate of cellulose synthesis (ii) modelize the hypocotyl growth in 3D+t to establish the link between the CESA activities, the orientation of CMF and CMT. These first set of results will be therefore combine with the mechanical properties of the epidermal cells, another project that is developped in the group. This work should lead to strategies for the in planta manipulation of the abundance and properties and perhaps the orientation, of microfibrils as well as the evaluation of the impact of these changes on plant development.

PhD subject IJPB 2011 from research group Primary cell wall