Plant cell walls are essential for plant development and survival, providing plants with numerous key functions. Beyond their biological role, cell walls represent a major carbon sink and a key renewable resource for food, feed, materials, and bioenergy. Although our understanding of this complex and dynamic system has greatly advanced, important knowledge gaps remain. The Action brings together researchers from biology, imaging, chemistry, biophysics, computation and modelling to overcome fragmented knowledge and methods. Multidisciplinary cooperation of PlantWallK aims to improve how we visualise, analyse and simulate cell walls, build shared data and knowledge infrastructure, and create a common language for this community.
Leader: Aline Voxeur
The working group focuses on advancing methodologies for analyzing the mechanical and biochemical properties of plant cell walls. It promotes the development, evaluation, and integration of innovative techniques through interdisciplinary collaboration, including conferences, workshops, training activities, and short-term scientific missions. As a central pillar of the Action, its progress underpins the effectiveness and impact of all other working groups.
Main tasks
- Create a comprehensive, standardized inventory of existing methods for mechanical and biochemical cell wall analysis, including imaging, analytical techniques, and molecular recognition tools, with emphasis on quantitative, reproducible approaches applicable to plant and crop materials.
- Identify methodological gaps and introduce novel approaches, particularly in situ and in vivo measurement techniques, by transferring suitable methods from other research fields such as biomedical and material sciences.
- Establish a sustainable framework for developing and validating new tools, including imaging strategies and molecular probes, supported by coordinated STSMs, joint grant applications, open data repositories, and hands-on training to enable long-term adoption by the scientific community.
- Monitor, document, and disseminate progress in method development by compiling validated and emerging techniques into an openly accessible, continuously updated database hosted on the Action website, thereby supporting future experimental practice and broad community uptake.
Aline Voxeur · WG1 Leader
Cell wall analysis methods and probes