Speaker: Charles Anderson, professor of biology, associate department head of research and faculty success, Pennsylvania State University Eberly College of Science

Title: "The plot thickens: navigating the complexity of pectin dynamics in plant growth and development"

Abstract: Pectins are acidic polysaccharides that are abundant in the walls of growing plant cells, and the synthesis, deposition, modification, and degradation of pectins influence plant cell, tissue, and organ morphogenesis in complex ways. Combining molecular genetics, cell biology, advanced microscopy, and biomechanical analysis and modeling, we have explored the effects of pectin-modifying genes on multiple processes that are critical to plant survival and development, including cell expansion, cell adhesion and separation, and leaf and flower morphogenesis. These studies are starting to reveal feedback mechanisms by which pectin modification in the cell wall influence signaling and hormone pathways that mediate developmental patterning in plants, positioning the cell wall as a key structural and signaling interface between plants and their environments.   

Host: Michelle Guo, genetics, development and cell biology assistant professor