Scope
There is increasing evidence that components present in the plant extracellular matrix (cell wall and cuticle) have a major role to play in the control of plant development (reviewed in, Bird & Gray (2003), Signals from the cuticle affect epidermal cell differentiation. New Phytol 157: 9-23; Brownlee (2002), Role of the extracellular matrix in cell-cell signalling: paracrine paradigms. Curr Opin Plant Biol: 5, 396-401). For example cell wall polysaccharides are known to influence early zygote development in Fucus and cell differentiation in higher plants. In addition the lipids present in epicuticular waxes are known to influence the development of guard and other epidermal cells while recent work shows the mutants carrying lesions in cutin biosynthetic genes display malformed epidermis. The primary aim of this discussion-based meeting is to bring together biochemists, physiologists, cell biologist and geneticists working on different experimental systems in order to focus on this topical issue in plant developmental biology.
Abstract book
Download the 13th NPS abstract book
Organising committee
Alistair Hetherington, Lancaster University, UK
Colin Brown Lee, Marine Biological Association, Plymouth, UK
Julie Gray, University of Sheffield, UK
Keith Lindsay, University of Durham, UK
Holly Slater, New Phytologist, Lancaster, UK