POLYSACCHARIDE BIOSYNTHESIS: CASE OF XYLOGLUCAN BACKBONE BRANCHING

The main goal of this project is to broaden the knowledge about plant polysaccharide formation.Detailed information about the mechanisms of cell wall polysaccharides biosynthesis is fundamental to a greater understanding of how plants develop and adapt to their environment.Our understanding of cell wall biosynthesis is fundamental to successfully creating plants with desired cell wall compositions and their efficient utilization.Understanding of the XXT proteins' specialization during polysaccharide biosynthesis will allow the informed modifications of plant cell walls via genetic manipulations. Remodeling of the biosynthetic pathways of polysaccharide biosynthesis is the promissing direction in generating plants with new biomass properties and potentially stronger protections against stress environments.Objectives of this project:Functionally characterize two putative xylosyl transferases (XXT3 and XXT4) from family GT34 using reverse-genetics and biochemical approaches and compare their activity to earlier characterized XXT5Understand relationship between three xylosyl transferases (XXT3, XXT4 and XXT5) in their contribution to synthesize the xyloglucan and determining it natural patterns.Perform phylogenetic analysis of XXTs to reveal phylogenetic relationships of these genes in other plant species and test our hypothesis about the diversity in their specificities towards acceptor substrates.