Abstract
Cellulose, a major component of the cell walls, is the most abundant biopolymer in plants and serves many uses as industrial materials. However, the cellulose synthesis is so complicated that the mechanisms have been poorly unraveled. By analyzing comprehensive gene coexpression profiles based on publicly available microarray datasets, we identified several candidate genes that functionally associated with the cell wall formation genes.
We experimentally examined functions of the candidate genes. By using inducible RNAi system, we suppressed an expression of a transcription factor (TF) gene coexpressed with genes involved in primary cell wall formation in Arabidopsis T87 cells and Arabidopsis plants. In T87, suppression of the TF revealed lethal phenotypes when grown with dexamethasone. In plants, suppression of the TF caused suppression of root growth and lethal phenotypes. We will report the results of microarray and metabolomics analyses using mass spectrometry, and discuss the function of the TF.
