Past Event! Note: this event has already taken place.
The McCully Plant Biology Lecture 2024
April 26, 2024 at 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
| Location: | 4440Q Carleton Technology and Training Centre |
| Cost: | Free |
Title: Modifying the plant cell wall from the inside out.
Heather McFarlane, Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Plant Cell Biology
Abstract
The plant cell wall is a polysaccharide-based extracellular matrix that surrounds and protects all plant cells. Since plants are constantly growing and developing within the confines of their cell walls, plant cells must be in constant communication with their cell walls. Furthermore, cell walls are a critical line of defense between plant cells and their environment; changes to the cell wall are often early warning signs of pathogen attack or abiotic stress, and plants fortify their cell walls in response to these stresses. This ongoing communication between the plant cells and their cell walls is collectively called “cell wall signaling”. The McFarlane Lab at The University of Toronto studies the molecular mechanisms of cell wall signaling and responses, including cell wall secretion and remodeling. We have recently characterized two different pathways that affect cell wall matrix polysaccharide synthesis at the Golgi apparatus. Interestingly, these cell wall synthesis defects result in changes to Golgi structure and function including inappropriate cell wall synthesis, secretion, and/or remodelling. These cellular phenotypes ultimately result in defects in coordinated cell growth, resulting in dramatic consequences for plant growth and development.
About the Researcher
Dr. Heather McFarlane is an Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Plant Cell Biology at the University of Toronto. Her ground-breaking research uses advanced microscopy tools to investigate mechanisms of cell wall synthesis, secretion, signaling and remodelling with a view to improving plant biomass for food, materials and energy. Heather earned her PhD working with Lacey Samuels at the University of British Columbia where she studied the transport of lipids that form the protective plant cuticle. After her PhD, she joined the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology (Germany) to study cell wall synthesis as an EMBO postdoctoral fellow with Staffan Persson. Heather moved with the Persson lab when they relocated to the University of Melbourne (Australia). There, she was awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award to continue her work on cell wall signaling. Heather joined the Department of Cell and Systems Biology at the University of Toronto as a Canada Research Chair in Plant Cell Biology in July 2019. Outside the lab, Heather is an ice hockey enthusiast and opera fanatic.