ArticlePLoS genetics2013
Brittle Culm1, a COBRA-like protein, functions in cellulose assembly through binding cellulose microfibrils.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers.
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88 citing papers in PubMed, 172 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Plant Cell Wall: From Structural Diversity and Biosynthesis to Integrity Signaling and Physiological Functions.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The COBRA-Like9 from Glycine tabacina enhanced salt tolerance in cultivated soybean.TAG. Theoretical and applied genetics. Theoretische und angewandte Genetik · 2026Article
- Transcriptomic and proteomic insights into the molecular mechanism underlying cell wall biosynthesis in Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis).Plant cell reports · 2026Article
- A viral protein disrupts rice cell wall integrity and modulates interactions with viruses and insects.Stress biology · 2026Article
- Expression of sugarcane COBRA-Like genes, ScBC1 and ScBC1L2, increases plant biomass.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- The rice BRITTLE CULM 4 gene encodes a membrane protein affecting cellulose synthesis in the secondary cell wall.Plant & cell physiology · 2025Article
- Cellulose synthase machinery in thickened primary cell walls of celery collenchyma via prizm of transcriptome analysis.Journal of plant research · 2025Article
- Genetic manipulation of a COBRA gene, PtrCOB11, substantially alters wood properties in poplar.Plant biotechnology journal · 2025Article
- Wheat COBRA-like GeneInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
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- COBRA-LIKE4 modulates cellulose synthase velocity and facilitates cellulose deposition in the secondary cell wall.Plant physiology · 2024Article
- Research Progress on Mechanical Strength of Rice Stalks.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Genome-Wide Identification and Hormone Response Analysis of the COBL Gene Family in Barley.Genes · 2024Article
- Genomic survey and expression analysis of cellulose synthase superfamily and COBRA-like gene family inPhysiology and molecular biology of plants : an international journal of functional plant biology · 2024Article
- Reciprocal regulation of cellulose and lignin biosynthesis by the transcription factor OsTCP19.Journal of experimental botany · 2024Article
- Knockout of eightCell surface (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2023Article
- Identification ofGenes · 2023Article
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- Novel function of a putative TaCOBL ortholog associated with cold response.Molecular biology reports · 2023Article
- Genome-Wide Analysis and Abiotic Stress-Responsive Patterns ofPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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11 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cellulose represents the most abundant biopolymer in nature and has great economic importance. Cellulose chains pack laterally into crystalline forms, stacking into a complicated crystallographic structure. However, the mechanism of cellulose crystallization is poorly understood. Here, via functional characterization, we report that Brittle Culm1 (BC1), a COBRA-like protein in rice, modifies cellulose crystallinity. BC1 was demonstrated to be a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchored protein and can be released into cell walls by removal of the GPI anchor. BC1 possesses a carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) at its N-terminus. In vitro binding assays showed that this CBM interacts specifically with crystalline cellulose, and several aromatic residues in this domain are essential for binding. It was further demonstrated that cell wall-localized BC1 via the CBM and GPI anchor is one functional form of BC1. X-ray diffraction (XRD) assays revealed that mutations in BC1 and knockdown of BC1 expression decrease the crystallite width of cellulose; overexpression of BC1 and the CBM-mutated BC1s caused varied crystallinity with results that were consistent with the in vitro binding assay. Moreover, interaction between the CBM and cellulose microfibrils was largely repressed when the cell wall residues were pre-stained with two cellulose dyes. Treating wild-type and bc1 seedlings with the dyes resulted in insensitive root growth responses in bc1 plants. Combined with the evidence that BC1 and three secondary wall cellulose synthases (CESAs) function in different steps of cellulose production as revealed by genetic analysis, we conclude that BC1 modulates cellulose assembly by interacting with cellulose and affecting microfibril crystallinity.
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