Unravelling the plant cell wall biosynthesis and architecture for bioenergy applications

Plant cell wall is an outermost layer of cell which has complex and dynamic structures, with central role in plant growth, development, physiology and defense. Plant cell wall is divided into two cell wall layers: primary and secondary walls which are composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin and structural proteins. These plant cell wall components are synthesized and assembled inside the cell, secreted towards cell surface and cross linked to form plant cell wall matrix. The composition and structure of the plant cell wall matrix varies depending on cell types.

Primary focus of our group is -

• To identify the protein or protein-complexes involved in the plant cell wall biosynthesis
• To elucidate the interactions between plant cell wall components
• To tailor the plant cell wall composition making it amenable for degradation during biofuel production

To achieve these goals, we are using Arabidopsis as a plant model system which has plethora of genetic tools available. We select the genes based on bioinformatics and molecular genomics approach to perform their functional and biochemical characterization. We perturb the gene function using gene editing tools and analyze the plant cell wall phenotype using structural and compositional characterization methods. The desired plant cell wall mutants are further tested to understand the effect on polysaccharide digestibility and fermentation.

The strategies developed in this project are translated to manipulate lignocellulosic biomass from bioenergy and agricultural crops like Poplar, Rice respectively.

• DST INSPIRE faculty fellow (2018)
• DBT-Energy Bioscience Overseas Fellowship (2019)

• Patent no : WO2013137810A1, Genetically modified plants having improved saccharification properties. USA, Europe.

 Current Lab members



• Dr Shouvik Das (MK Bhan Fellow)
• Lavi Rastogi (Senior Research Fellow)
• Deepika Singh (Senior Research Fellow)
• Rajan Kumar Sah (Senior Research Fellow)
• Bhagwat (Senior Research Fellow)
• Vikrant Bhati (Project-JRF)
• Dharmendra Patel (Integrated MSc Trainee)

 Past Members



• Arunima Gupta
  

  Present position: Scientist R&D, Thermo Fisher Scientific

• Aniket Chaudhari (JRF)
  

  Present position: Project Associate, CSIR-IHBT, Palampur.

• Raunak Sharma
  

  Present position: PhD student at BITS Hyderabad.

• Apurva Gangal (JRF),
  

  Present position: PhD student at ICGEB, New Delhi

• Navdeep Kaur (JRF)
  

  Present position: PhD student at South Dakota Mines, USA

• Rahul Kumar (JRF)
  

  Present position: Meril Life Science, Assistant Manager in R&D, Genomics Lab.

• Anant Mohan Sharma (JRF)
• Mohmmad Mohsin (Trainee)
  Present position: PhD student at Jamia Hamdard

• Chaudhari AA, Sharma AM, Rastogi L, Dewangan BP, Sharma R, Singh D, Sah RK, Das S, Bhattacharjee S, Mellerowicz EJ, Pawar PA-M*: Modifying lignin composition and xylan O-acetylation induces changes in cell wall composition, extractability, and digestibility. Biotechnol Biofuels Bioprod 2024, 17(1):73.
• Dewangan BP, Gupta A, Sah RK, Das S, Kumar S, Bhattacharjee S, Pawar PM-A (2023). Xylobiose treatment triggers a defence-related response and alters cell wall composition. Special issue on Plant Cell Wall Dynamics in Plant Molecular Biology, 113 (6):383-400. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-023-01391-z.
• Dutta H, K MS, Aski MS, Mishra GP, Sinha SK, Vijay D, C TM, Das S, Pawar PA-M*, Mishra DC et al: Morpho-biochemical characterization of a RIL population for seed parameters and identification of candidate genes regulating seed size trait in lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.). Front Plant Sci 2023, 14:1091432.
• Dutta H, Mishra GP, Aski MS, Bosamia TC, Mishra DC, Bhati J, Sinha SK, Vijay D, C TM, Das S, Pawar PA-M* et al: Comparative transcriptome analysis, unfolding the pathways regulating the seed-size trait in cultivated lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.). Front Genet 2022, 13:942079.
• Rastogi L, Chaudhari AA, Sharma R, Pawar PA-M*: Arabidopsis GELP7 functions as a plasma membrane-localized acetyl xylan esterase, and its overexpression improves saccharification efficiency. Plant Mol Biol 2022, 109(6):781-797.
• Rastogi L, Singh D, Sah RK, Chaudhari AA, Pawar PA-M* (2021). Enhancement of Biomass for Deconstruction. In: Nidhi Adlakha, Rakesh Bhatnagar, Syed Shams Yazdani (Eds.) Biomass for Bioenergy and Biomaterials (1st ed). CRC Press. doi.org/10.1201/9781003158486.
• Thapliyal G, Vemanna RS, Pawar PA-M*, Barthwal S, Meena RK, Pandey S, Bhandari MS: First record of off-season flowering in Populus deltoides from India: paradigm of climate change indicator. Int J Biometeorol 2020, 64(9):1629-1634
• Wang Z, Pawar PA-M*, Derba-Maceluch M, Hedenstrom M, Chong SL, Tenkanen M, Jonsson LJ, Mellerowicz EJ: Hybrid Aspen Expressing a Carbohydrate Esterase Family 5 Acetyl Xylan Esterase Under Control of a Wood-Specific Promoter Shows Improved Saccharification. Front Plant Sci 2020, 11:380.
• Derba-Maceluch M, Amini F, Donev EN, Pawar PA-M*, Michaud L, Johansson U, Albrectsen BR, Mellerowicz EJ: Cell Wall Acetylation in Hybrid Aspen Affects Field Performance, Foliar Phenolic Composition and Resistance to Biological Stress Factors in a Construct-Dependent Fashion. Front Plant Sci 2020, 11:651.
• Pawar PA-M*, Schnürer A, Mellerowicz EJ, Rönnberg-Wästljung AC: QTL Mapping of Wood FT-IR Chemotypes Shows Promise for Improving Biofuel Potential in Short Rotation Coppice Willow (Salix spp.). BioEnergy Research 2018, 11(2):351-363.
• Pawar PA-M*, Ratke C, Balasubramanian VK, Chong SL, Gandla ML, Adriasola M, Sparrman T,Hedenstrom M, Szwaj K, Derba-Maceluch M et al: Downregulation of RWA genes in hybrid aspen affects xylan acetylation and wood saccharification. New Phytol 2017, 214(4):14911505.
• Pawar PA-M*, Derba-Maceluch M, Chong SL, Gomez LD, Miedes E, Banasiak A, Ratke C, Gaertner C, Mouille G, McQueen-Mason SJ et al: Expression of fungal acetyl xylan esterase in Arabidopsis thaliana improves saccharification of stem lignocellulose. Plant Biotechnol J 2016, 14(1):387-397.
• Pawar PA-M*, Derba-Maceluch M, Chong SL, Gandla ML, Bashar SS, Sparrman T, Ahvenainen P, Hedenstrom M, Ozparpucu M, Ruggeberg M et al: In muro deacetylation of xylan affects lignin properties and improves saccharification of aspen wood. Biotechnol Biofuels 2017, 10:98.
• Ratke C, Pawar PA-M*, Balasubramanian VK, Naumann M, Duncranz ML, Derba-Maceluch M, Gorzsas A, Endo S, Ezcurra I, Mellerowicz EJ: Populus GT43 family members group into distinct sets required for primary and secondary wall xylan biosynthesis and include useful promoters for wood modification. Plant Biotechnol J 2015, 13(1):26-37.
• Manabe Y, Verhertbruggen Y, Gille S, Harholt J, Chong SL, Pawar PA-M*, Mellerowicz EJ, Tenkanen M, Cheng K, Pauly M et al: Reduced Wall Acetylation proteins play vital and distinct roles in cell wall O-acetylation in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol 2013, 163(3):1107
• Pawar PA-M*, Koutaniemi S, Tenkanen M, Mellerowicz EJ: Acetylation of woody lignocellulose: significance and regulation. Front Plant Sci 2013, 4:118.