Professor Richard E. Williamson

Plant Cell Biology Group
School of Biology (RSBS)
GPO Box 475
Canberra ACT 2601
ph: + 61 (0)2 6125 5087
fax: + 61 (0)2 6125 4331

email: richard.williamson@anu.edu.au

Information for prospective students

Current position:

Professor, Cell Wall Laboratory

Plant Cell Biology Group, School of Biology (Research School of Biological Sciences)

ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment

Research interests:

Genetic dissection of cell wall structure and properties

The carbohydrates and proteins of the cell wall form cages that surround all plant cells. The crystalline carbohydrate cellulose is a key component of those walls and is familiar to us as the key component of cotton and wood fibres. We use mutants of the model plant Arabidopsis (Baskin et al 1992 Aust J Plant Physiol 19, 427-438) to understand how plants make the major carbohydrates of their walls and how the properties of those walls control the shape into which plant organs grow. In our mutants, we can switch roots from growing longitudinally to growing radially by raising the temperature. By analysing the carbohydrates in the mutants and the ultrastructure of their walls, we determine what changes alter the direction of growth; by cloning the mutated gene, we identify the genes making those carbohydrates. One mutant switches off cellulose production because one nucleotide has been altered in the gene making the catalytic subunit of cellulose synthase (Arioli et al 1998 Science 179, 717-720). Other genes where mutations impair cellulose production encode an endo-1,4-beta-glucanase (Lane et al 2001 Plant Physiology 126, 278-288) and glucosidase lI, an ER enzyme involved in the N-glycosylation/quality control pathway (Burn et al 2002, Plant Journal 32,949-960). We are also working to use our ability to change cell wall properties to produce improved cotton and wood fibres and, through a collaboration with the ANU Engineering Department, to model the mechanical properties of the plant cell wall.

Selected Publications:

Kha H, Tuble S, Kalyanasundaram S, Williamson RE. (2008) Finite element analysis of plant cell wall materials. Advanced Materials Research 32: 197-201.

Collings DA, Gebbie LK, Howles PA, Hurley UA, Birch RJ, Cork AH, Hocart CH, Arioli T, Williamson RE. (2008) Arabidopsis dynamin-like protein DRP1A: a null mutant with widespread defects in endocytosis, cellulose synthesis, cytokinesis and cell expansion. Journal of Experimental Botany 59: 361-376.

Soussilane P, D’Alessio C, Paccalet T, Fitchette A-C, Parodi AJ, Williamson RE, Plasson C, Faye L, and Gomord V. (2008) N-glycan trimming by glucosidase II is essential for Arabidopsis development. Glycoconjugate Journal DOI 10.1007/s10719-008-9201-1.

Wang J, Elliott JE, Williamson RE. (2008) Features of the primary wall CESA complex in wild type and cellulose-deficient mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana. Journal of Experimental Botany 59: 2627-2637.

Williamson RE, Stone BA, Higgins H. (2007) Alan Buchanan Wardrop 1921-2003. Historical Records of Australian Science 18: 113-136.

Kha H, Tuble S, Kalyanasundaram S, Williamson RE. (2007) Structure-based models for determining the mechanical properties of plant cell walls. Proceedings of the 5th Australasian Congress on Applied Mechanics, Brisbane, 10-12 December 2007.

Bannigan A, Wiedemeier AMD, Williamson RE, Overall RL, Baskin TI (2006) Cortical microtubule arrays lose uniform alignment between cells and are oryzalin  resistant in the arabidopsis mutant, radially swollen 6. Plant Cell Physiology 47: 949-958.

Howles PA, Birch RJ, Collings DA, Gebbie LK, Hurley UA, Hocart CH, Arioli T, Williamson RE. (2006) A mutation in an Arabidopsis ribose-5-phosphate isomerase reduces cellulose synthesis and is rescued by exogenous uridine. Plant Journal 48: 606-618.

Wang J, Howles PA, Cork AH, Birch RJ, Williamson RE. (2006) Chimeric proteins suggest that the catalytic and/or C-terminal domains give CesA1 and CesA3 access to their specific sites in the cellulose synthase of primary walls. Plant Physiology 142: 685-695.

Gebbie LK, Burn JE, Hocart CH, Williamson RE. (2005) Genes encoding ADP-ribosylation factors in Arabidopsis thaliana L. Heyn.; genome analysis and antisense suppression. Journal of Experimental Botany 56: 1079-1091.

Himmelspach R, Williamson RE, Wasteneys GO. (2003) Cellulose microfibril alignment recovers from DCB-induced disruption despite microtubule disorganisation. Plant Journal 36: 565-575.

Sugimoto K, Himmelspach R, Williamson RE, Wasteneys GO. (2003) Mutation or drug-dependent microtubule disruption causes radial swelling without altering parallel cellulose microfibril deposition in Arabidopsis thaliana root cells. Plant Cell 15: 1414-1429.

Burn JE, Hurley UA, Birch RJ, Arioli T, Cork A, Williamson RE. (2002) The cellulose-deficient Arabidopsis mutant rsw3 is defective in a gene encoding a putative glucosidase II, an enzyme processing N-glycans during ER quality control. Plant Journal 32: 949-960.

Williamson RE, Burn JE, Hocart CH. (2002) Towards the mechanism of cellulose synthesis. Trends in Plant Science 7: 461-467.

Lane DR, Wiedemeier A, Peng L, Höfte H, Vernhettes S, Desprez T, Hocart CH, Birch RJ, Baskin TI, Burn JE, Arioli T, Betzner AS, Williamson RE. (2001) Temperature sensitive alleles of RSW2 link the KORRIGAN endo-1,4-ß-glucanase to cellulose synthesis and cytokinesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiology 126: 278-288.

Sugimoto K, Williamson RE, Wasteneys GO. (2001) Wall architecture in the cellulose-deficient rsw1 mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana: microfibrils but not microtubules lose their transverse alignment before microfibrils become unrecognisable in the mitotic and elongation zones of roots. Protoplasma 215: 172-183.

Williamson RE, Burn JE, Birch R, Baskin TI, Arioli T, Betzner AS, Cork A. (2001) Morphology of rsw1, a cellulose-deficient mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana. Protoplasma 215: 116-127.

Arioli T, Peng L, Betzner AS, Burn J, Wittke W, Herth W, Camilleri C, Hofte H, Plazinski J, Birch R, Cork A, Glover J, Redmond J, Williamson RE. (1998) Molecular analysis of cellulose biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. Science 179: 717-720.

Dr Charles Hocart

 

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