posted on 2024-02-29, 04:39authored byMichael Ogden, Sarah J Whitcomb, Ghazanfar KhanGhazanfar Khan, Ute Roessner, Rainer Hoefgen, Staffan Persson
<p>The plant cell wall is a sugar-rich matrix that surrounds every plant cell, providing structural support and acting as a first line of defense against pests and pathogens. As cell walls comprise the bulk of plant biomass, they are a major carbon sink and the source of many essential commodities, such as food, shelter, fuel, and clothing. Therefore, it is no surprise that cell walls are a major research topic, as knowledge gained can be harnessed to engineer plants with improved or tailored cell walls. </p>
Funding
This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (M.O.). S.P. acknowledges the financial aid of Villum Fonden (Villum Investigator, Project ID: 25915), Danmarks Grundforskningsfond (Danish National Research Foundation Chair, DNRF155), Novo Nordisk Fonden (Novo Nordisk Laureate, NNF19OC0056076; Novo Nordisk Emerging Investigator, NNF20OC0060564; Novo Nordisk Data Science, NNF0068884), and Lundbeck Foundation (Experiment grant, R346-2020-1546) grants. M.O, S.J.W., and R.H. acknowledge funding from the Max Planck Society and the Melbourne-Potsdam PhD Programme.