Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences

Research group: Cellulose syntesis

Our group aims at understanding how plants allocate their fixed carbon to produce their cell walls, with a particular focus on the cell wall polymer cellulose.

Cellulose is the chief contributor to plant biomass with vast application potential to fuel, feed and materials. Cellulose consists of glucan chains that coalesce to form strong microfibrils, which provide the strength to the cell wall. Consequently, cellulose is a major determinant for directed plant growth and provides stature to plants.

Cellulose is produced at the plasma membrane by large multimeric cellulose synthase (CESA) complexes. Major goals are to understand how the CESA complex is regulated, what other components involved in making cellulose are and the means that the cell wall uses to communicate with the interior of the cell.

Current research projects

Villum Investigator grant: Strategies to completely change wall structures through bioengineering.
NNF Laureate grant: Understanding carbon allocation to modify grain carbohydrates in rice and Arabidopsis.

For students wishing to work within the topics of plant cell walls, M.Sc. and B.Sc. projects are available. Please contact Staffan Persson (Staffan.persson@plen.ku.dk) for more information.

Key publications

1. Quantitative Assessments of Actin Cytoskeleton Organization and Dynamics in Transgenic Cotton Reveals a Unique Growth Mechanism That Underpins Fiber Elongation (2019) Yu Y, Nowak J, Wu S, Wang G, Han L, Mendrinna A, Ma Y, Wang H, Zhang X, Tian J, Dong L, Nikoloski Z, Persson S*, Kong Z*. Nature Plants
*Co-senior and corresponding authors

2. The companion of cellulose synthase 1 confers salt tolerance through a Tau-like mechanism in plants (2019) Kesten C, Wallmann A, Schneider R, McFarlane HE, Diehl A, Khan GA, van Rossum BJ, Lampugnani E, Cremer N, Schmieder P, Ford KL, Seiter F, Heazlewood JL, Sanchez-Rodriguez C, Oschkinat H, Persson S. Nature Comm

3. A clade of AP2-ERF transcription factors drives massive primary cell wall production in empty fiber cells in Arabidopsis. (2018) Sakamoto S, Wang T, Bågman AM, Gaudinier A, Brady SM, Mansfield SD, Persson S, Mitsuda N. Nature Plants

4.Cellulose synthase complexes display distinct dynamic behaviors during xylem trans-differentiation (2018) Watanabe Y, Schneider R, Barkwill S., Gonzales-Vigil E, Hill JL, Samuels AL*, Persson S*, Mansfield SD*. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.
*Co-senior and corresponding authors

5.Two Complementary Mechanisms Underpin Cell Wall Patterning during Xylem Vessel Development. (2017) Schneider R, Tang L, Lampugnani ER, Barkwill S, Lathe R, Zhang Y, Pesquet E, Niittyla T, Mansfield SD, Zhou Y, Persson S. Plant Cell

6. System-wide quantification of the actin cytoskeleton captures design principles that underpin organelle transport in plant cells (2017) Breuer D, Ivakov A, Nowak J, Persson S*, Nikoloski Z*. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.
*Co-senior and corresponding authors

7. Biased evidence for ancient plant polyploidy (2017) Ruprecht C, Lohaus R, Vanneste K, Klie S, Mutwil M, Nikoloski Z, Van de Peer Y, Persson Science Adv

8. BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE2 Down-Regulates Cellulose Synthesis in Arabidopsis by Phosphorylating Cellulose Synthase1. (2017) Sanchez-Rodriguez C, Ketelaar KJ, Schneider R, Somerville CR, Persson S*, Wallace IS*. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.
*Co-senior and corresponding authors

9. Cellulose Synthase-Microtubule Uncoupling1 and 2 Maintain Lateral Microtubule Stability During Cellulose Synthesis (2016) Liu Z, Schneider R, Zhang Y, Zhang Y, Fernie AR, Persson S. Developmental Cell

STELLO1 and 2 interact with the cellulose synthase complex and regulate its assembly, Golgi distribution, secretion, and activity in Arabidopsis (2016) Zhang Y, Nikolovski N, Sorieul M, Vellosillo T, McFarlane HE, Dupree R, Kesten C,Driemeier C, Lathe R, Lampugnani E, Yu X, Ivakov A, Doblin MS, Mortimer JC, Brown SP, Persson S*, Dupree P*. Nature Comm.
*Co-senior and corresponding authors

A Mechanism for Sustained Cellulose Synthesis during Salt Stress. (2015) Endler A, Kesten C, Schneider R, Zhang Y, Ivakov A, Froehlich A, Funke N,Persson S.

V-ATPase-activity in the TGN/EE is required for exocytosis and recycling in Arabidopsis (2015) Luo Y, Doering A, Scholl S, Zhang Y, Irani NG, Di Rubbo S, Neumetzler L, Krishnamoorthy P, Van Houtte I, Mylle E, Bischoff V, Vernhettes S, Winne J, Friml J, Stierhof YD, Schumacher K*, Persson S*, Russinova E*. Nature Plants.
*Co-senior authors and corresponding authors.

The TPLATE Adaptor Complex Drives Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis in Plants. (2014) Gadeyne A, Sánchez-Rodríguez C, Vanneste S, Di Rubbo S, Zauber H, Vanneste K, Van Leene J, De Winne N, Eeckhout D, Persiau G, Van De Slijke E, Cannoot B, Vercruysse L, Mayers JR, Adamowski M, Kania U, Ehrlich M, Schweighofer A, Ketelaar T, Maere S, Bednarek SY, Friml J, Gevaert K, Witters E, Russinova E, Persson S*^#, De Jaeger G*, Van Damme D*^#. Cell.
*Co-senior authors, and ^#Corresponding authors

Research Outputs

For students

Are you interested in doing a project? Read more about your options in the project database:

Project database for students

Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences have various bachelor and master programmes:

Bachelor and master programmes

Group members

Name	Title	Phone	E-mail
Amalie Gro Kloster	Laboratory technician	+45 353-28051	E-mail
Felix Ruhnow	Postdoc	+45 353-33138	E-mail
Lisa Maria Steiner	Postdoc	+45 353-26463	E-mail
Ouda Khammy	Academic employee	+45 52 81 67 84	E-mail