Student Education News

Antibodies for plant cell walls

Antibodies for plant cell walls
Professor Paul Knox has undertaken research into the structure and function of plant cell walls over a number of years.

Professor Paul Knox has undertaken research into the structure and function of plant cell walls over a number of years. As a part of this work, he has generated panels of both monoclonal antibody and carbohydrate-binding module probes. These molecular probes are used to determine the location and content of cell wall polysaccharides including pectins, xylans, xyloglucans and cellulose, and their use has changed the accepted conceptual model of plant cell walls and indicated that they are highly metabolically dynamic cell structures. The antibodies used in Professor Knox’s research have been distributed to a wide range of industrial companies, research institutes and universities. The global use of the probes has been documented in a large number of public-domain research papers, and also their use has had notable impact in the area of plant cell wall deconstruction which is a key factor in the generation of sustainable sources of biofuels.Cell Wall research

1st November 2012