Behind the signals in cell walls Cell walls in plants are highly dynamic, and they need to change shape and composition in order to allow for growth and development. Researchers in the WallWatchers project are using a multi-disciplinary approach to build a deeper picture of cell signalling, which could open up new possibilities in terms of enhancing crop resilience, as Professor Julia Santiago explains. The cell walls within a plant are highly dynamic, as they need to change shape to allow for growth and development. Cell walls provide mechanical support to the plant, while they also play an important role in communicating both with other cells and the outside world, a topic of great interest to Professor Julia Santiago, the Principal Investigator of the WallWatchers project. “We work with signalling pathways, and we’re trying to dissect how the information that comes from a cell wall is integrated inside
WALLWATCHERS Plant cell wall communication and remodelling: the wall watchers Julia Santiago, Assistant Professor Department of Plant Molecular Biology Biophore Building. University of Lausanne 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland T: +41 21 692 42 10 E: julia.santiago@unil.ch W: https://www.unil.ch/dbmv/en/home/ menuinst/research-and-teaching/recherche/ prof-julia-santiago-cuellar.html
Julia Santiago Cuellar is Assistant Professor in the department of plant molecular biology at the University of Lausanne. She holds a PhD in biotechnology and molecular biology, and has worked in research positions at different institutions across Europe, before taking up her current position in 2016.
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the cell, so that the cell grows or develops in a certain way,” she outlines. “We’re then looking at how this information is translated into metabolic changes that will change the cell wall again, chemically and mechanically, so that it can adapt to a new situation.” Researchers are using the Arabidopsis plant as a model species in this work, with Professor Santiago and her colleagues taking a multidisciplinary approach to build a deeper picture of cell signalling. This includes using structural biology, quantitative biochemistry and plant genetics techniques. “We look at these processes from the nano scale, meaning atomic resolution, to the macro scale, using cell biology and genetics, to dissect what happens to different plant tissues.
inside a plant could eventually help scientists enhance crop resilience, which is an important aspect of the project’s work. “We want to look at how we can make plants more productive and accelerate growth, and how we can make them more resistant to pathogens and different ground conditions,” continues Professor Santiago. This could open up the possibility of genetically modifying plants to enhance resilience in future, or of using other techniques to improve productivity. While researchers have looked at Arabidopsis during the project, Professor Santiago says the project’s work holds broader relevance beyond this particular plant. “ Arabidopsis is a plant that we basically use for fundamental science, and then we can
We work with signalling pathways, and we’re trying to dissect how the information that comes from a cell wall is integrated inside the cell, so that the cell grows or develops in a certain way. Quantitative biochemistry techniques help us to understand the relationship of the different proteins within complexes” explains Professor Santiago. “With our biochemical and atomic models at hand we then go back to the plant and we look at how this communication system works in vivo.” The cell wall itself is rich in carbohydrates, with membrane receptors that play an important role in receiving information and transmitting signals elsewhere in the cell. A lot of attention in the project is centered on the interactions between receptors and ligands in the plant. “This molecule will bind to a receptor, which will then lead to the expression or activation of specific genes inside the cell,” says Professor Santiago. A deeper understanding of these structures
translate results to other plants,” she says. This work holds important implications for crop resilience, yet Professor Santiago is focused on more fundamental work at this stage. “We hope to build a clearer picture of how cell signalling works, and how the cell modifies the cell wall to adapt to different circumstances and develop differentiated tissue for cell function,” she says. The priority at the moment is uncovering the ligands involved in cell wall sensing receptors, yet Professor Santiago is also fully aware of the wider relevance of this work. “With more detailed structural information on the cell signalling system we can look towards gene-editing and modulating the function in the development of the plant to improve production,” she outlines.
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