The Role of the FEI Receptor Kinases in the Regulation of Cell Wall Function in Arabidopsis thaliana

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Steinwand, Blaire Janell
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology

Abstract

The plant cell wall is a staple in the human diet and provides the raw material used to manufacture paper, textiles, and more recently, biofuel as it is the most abundant reservoir of carbon in nature. In plants, the cell wall provides structural support, acts as a barrier to pathogen attack, and determines both the direction and the extent of cell expansion. The cell wall is a dynamic structure that functions throughout plant growth and development and in response to developmental and environmental cues. Despite the importance of the cell wall, the molecular components and signal transduction pathways involved in regulating its function remain largely unknown. FEI1 and FEI2 are two leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLKs) that promote cell wall function in Arabidopsis thaliana. Mutations in both FEI1 and FEI2 disrupt cell wall synthesis and this leads to a loss of cell elongation and a short, swollen root phenotype. In order to determine how exactly the FEI proteins regulate cell wall function, we sought to identify novel components of the FEI pathway and have isolated suppressors of the fei1 fei2 mutant phenotype. Further characterization of these as well as known components of the pathway suggests the FEI proteins may act in a complex with other LRR-RLKs and ACC synthase to posttranslationally regulate cell wall synthesis.

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