Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Polysaccharides are important biological molecules. They are found throughout nature and play various roles in the biology of plants and animals. The earliest known roles of polysaccharides where found to be related to structure or energy storage. Cellulose and chitin are structural polysaccharides of plants, and various shellfish and insects, respectively; whereas, plant starch and animal glycogen serve as energy storage molecules. Over the past two decades additional roles of more complex polysaccharides have been discovered. They are now known to mediate many important biological interactions such as the immune response, inflammation, and cell-cell recognition of various types. Most of this information has been gathered based on studies of mammalian or bacterial systems. The role polysaccharides play in plant systems is less well understood, although it is becoming apparent that plant polysaccharides have more complex roles as well. This research proposal outlines the chemical synthesis of small segments of plant polysaccharides, called oligosaccharides. The synthetic oligosaccharides will be used to i) identify the fine binding specificity of some existing monoclonal antibodies and ii) generate monoclonal antibodies with well defined binding properties. These monoclonal antibodies will then be used by plant physiologists to study the biological roles of plant cell wall polysaccharides, leading to a better understanding of plant biology.