Building a plant cell wall

Plant cells are under pressure. Cell walls encase plant cells and enable them to withstand this internal pressure, called turgor. The mechanical properties of cell walls are constantly remodeled to either promote or restrict turgor driven growth. My team and I investigate how plants sense mechanical forces that affect them and how they modulate the physical properties of their cell walls to regulate their growth in response to these forces. Since most biomass on earth is composed of cell walls and their properties determine plant growth, this is an area of substantial practical importance.