Chemobiology, a tool box for studying plant cell wall pectic polysaccharides
Plant Biology Seminar Series

Abstract:
Glycans metabolic engineering is a powerful tool for studying the glycosylation of living cells [1, 2]. The use of modified monosaccharides, such as deoxy or fluorinated sugars, has been reported as a powerful pharmacological approach for studying carbohydrate metabolism and plant cell wall biosynthesis [3]. Moreover, non-natural metabolite derivatives that carry functions enabling bio-orthogonal ligations are now widely used for glycomolecules imaging in living organism. In both cases, these derivatives must cross the cell membrane and be accepted by the biosynthetic machinery of the cell to produce nucleotide-sugars that will be taken in charge by the enzymatic machinery to build complex glycomolecule such as cell wall polysaccharides in plant. Here, we illustrate the use of glycan metabolic engineering, photo release of caged monosaccharide derivative and click-chemistry, for studying the plant cell wall biosynthesis and function with an emphasis of the pectic domain rhamnogalacturonan II [4, 5].
1 H. Kayser, R. Zeitler, C. Kannicht, D. Grunow, R. Nuck, W. Reutter, Journal of Biological Chemistry 1992, 267, 16934–16938.
2 L. K. Mahal, K. J. Yarema, C. R. Bertozzi, Science 1997, 276, 1125–1128.
3 M. Dumont, A. Lehner, M. Bardor, C. Burel, B. Vauzeilles, O. Lerouxel, C. T. Anderson, J.-C. Mollet, P. Lerouge, Plant J 2015, 84, 1137–1151.
4 M. Dumont, A. Lehner, B. Vauzeilles, J. Malassis, A. Marchant, K. Smyth, B. Linclau, A. Baron, J. Mas Pons, C. T. Anderson, D. Schapman, L. Galas, J.-C. Mollet, P. Lerouge, Plant J 2016, 85, 437–447.
5 P. Lerouge, M. Carlier, J.-C. Mollet, A. Lehner, in Carbohydrate Chemistry (Eds.: A. Pilar Rauter, T.K. Lindhorst, Y. Queneau), Royal Society Of Chemistry, Cambridge, 2021, 553–571.

About the Speaker:
Arnaud Lehner has defended his PhD in Plant Physiology in 2005 at Sorbonne University. He then spent a year at the University of Capetown in South Africa working on resurrection plants before working at the University Paris Cité to study plant cell electrophysiology. In 2008, he joined the University of Rouen Normandy as an associate professor, where he taught plant physiology. Since 2018, he develops chemobiological and innovative imaging approaches (glycan engineering, metabolic labelling and correlative microscopy) to study the role of glycomolecules during plant cell growth. Full professor since 2023, he now teaches metabolic biochemistry and focuses his work at localizing and understanding the functions of the enigmatic pectic polymer Rhamnogalacturonan II.

Contact

  Charlie Anderson
  cta3@psu.edu