Cellulose Synthesis

Our group aims at understanding how plants allocate their fixed carbon to produce their cell walls, with a particular focus on the cell wall polymer cellulose.

About the group

Cellulose is the chief contributor to plant biomass with vast application potential to fuel, feed and materials. Cellulose consists of glucan chains that coalesce to form strong microfibrils, which provide the strength to the cell wall. Consequently, cellulose is a major determinant for directed plant growth and provides stature to plants.

Cellulose is produced at the plasma membrane by large multimeric cellulose synthase (CESA) complexes. Major goals are to understand how the CESA complex is regulated, what other components involved in making cellulose are and the means that the cell wall uses to communicate with the interior of the cell.

Group leader

Staffan Persson
Professor

Villum Investigator 2020
Aim to understand how plants make secondary cell walls, critically contributing to plant stature and the water transporting capacity of plants.

NNF, Laureate Research Grant 2020
Identifying factors that drive allocation of carbon in plant cells and thereby perhaps be able to change the carbohydrate content in for example grains with significant health benefits.

NNF, Data Science Collaborative Research Programme 2021
Aim to investigate how the shapes of leaf cells contribute to the photosynthetic capacity of the leaf, influencing the diffusion and hence photosynthesis.

NNF, BioSAP Emerging Investigator
Description to come

Lundbeck Fonden
This project aims to functionally characterize microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) to better appreciate their role in plant and neuronal biology.

Danmarks Grundforskningsfond chair 2021
Building new microscope solutions and using biophysics tools to address outstanding questions in plant cell wall biology.

NNF, Industrial Biotechnology and Environmental Biotechnology - Project Grants 2021
Description to come

EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship Award 2022
Description to come

NNF, Industrial Biotechnology and Environmental Biotechnology Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021
Designing, engineering and determining the 3D structure of novel plasma membrane localized xylan synthases inspired by the cellulose synthase complex.

Combined susceptibility and resistance gene-mediated resistance for broad and durable disease resistance in potato, 2026
Aim: We will evaluate the effects of combining susceptibility (S)- and resistance (R) gene mediated resistance for obtaining effective and more durable resistance in potato.