April 21, 2016

PBIO Seminar Series: Andrei Smertenko

How plants conquer the space: the cell’s flying plates

Plant cytokinesis is orchestrated by a specialized structure, the phragmoplast. The phragmoplast first occurred in representatives of Charophyte algae and then became the main division apparatus in land plants.  Major cellular activities, including cytoskeletal dynamics, vesicle trafficking, membrane assembly, and cell wall biosynthesis, cooperate in the phragmoplast under the guidance of a complex signaling network. My research focuses on the self-organization processes that govern phragmoplast functions. I will give a general overview of plant cytokinesis, and present our recent data on the gamma-tubulin independent microtubule nucleation by the plant-specific protein MACERATOR and a conserved member of TPX2 protein family.

Andrei Smertenko, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Molecular Plant Sciences Washington State University host: Linda Wordeman