Coming Soon!
Our new webpage devoted to
algal and cyanobacterial feedstocks for biofuels! Stay tuned!
a link will soon be created HERE
Recently Published:
 |
Cellulose: Molecular and Structural Biology Selected articles on the synthesis, structure, and applications of cellulose Edited by R.M. Brown, Jr. and I.M. Saxena Springer, 2007 (Publisher's web site) |
New!
pdf files of the R.M. Brown Reprint Library
Now Complete
1962-2007
click below to enter
A New View of the
Rosette TC!
click on the photo below
This is an anaglyph which shows a 3D View if you use red/blue glasses!
This photo was made by my graduate student, Andrew Bowling. It is an image of a
newly recovered tobacco BY2 protoplast. The inner surface of the plasma
membrane is shown, along with cellulose microfibrils, clathrin-coated vesicles,
and microtubules. For more information, click on the photo above and view the
site!
Electronic Paper Invention!
(click on photo below to learn more!)
The New Cellulose Electronic
Network (CEN)
Click on photo icon below to enter and beta-test our "revitalized"
CEN
This site has been completely redesigned by Richard Santos
Your comments would be much appreciated
send comments to: rsantos@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
We plan to have the revised CEN online and fully operational by
June 1, 2002
A research database for
genes covering processive B-glycosyltransferases
This new database was designed and and assembled by David Nobles.
The Brown lab is pleased to announce
the inaguration of this database which should compliment the cell
wall database at Stanford.
Your comments are welcome: dnobles@mail.utexas.edu
Cellulose in Cyanobacteria!
Click on the Photo Icon above to learn more about this interesting
research discovery in our lab.
photo courtesy Bob Nagy
Professor Brown's research laboratory is best known for the discovery of cellulose synthesizing complexes in the 1970’s and much of the subsequent development of this field. This research came out of a long tradition in the Brown group of extensive experience with transmission electron microscopy and the freeze fracture technique .
In the late 1980’s the Brown group pioneered in the purification and characterization of cellulose synthase from the gram negative bacterium, Acetobacter xylinum . This led to the first cloning and sequencing of a cellulose synthase gene in 1990.
More recently, however, the Brown group has undertaken to characterize cellulose biosynthesis in eukaryotic cells, particularly those from plants of great agronomic importance. In 1993, the Brown group achieved substantial purification and characterization of cellulose synthase from Gossypium, and more recently, the group has been the first to produce cellulose I in vitro from partially purified membrane proteins of Gossypium. In addition, a novel synthetic approach to cellulose synthesis was recently achieved using an endoglucanase as the catalyst in an organic solvent (click HERE for the abstract and source).
In 2000, the
Brown lab succeeded in growing cotton fibers in ovule
culture
but in addition to growth on the aerial side of a floating ovule, fibers
were produced in the submerged portion. Interesting morphologies of secondary
wall helical thickenings were observerd. A news
release on this discovery has shown that this new method for cotton
growth that could lead to improved textiles. Being able to grow cotton
in submerged culture has allowed direct analyis of cell movements, growth,
etc. Two
movies
are available for observations and analysis.
The Brown labgroup also is focusing on the purification of cellulose synthases and the identification of the cellulose synthase gene/s from Arabidopsis and Vigna with the hopes to better understand the complex biochemical regulation of cellulose and callose biosynthesis in land plants.
The Brown group also has pioneered in atomic and molecular imaging using the transmission electron microscope. The group was the first to secure lattice images of glucan chains from the cellulose of a higher plant. This effort has led to more generalized beam-sensitive sample for imaging, and now the group is imaging molecules such as DNA, bacitracin, ornithine decarboxylase, chaperonin, and the acetylcholine receptor as well as the adhesion molecules of marine diatoms.
In collaboration
with Professor Richard Lagow, the Brown Lab is investigating a new form
of condensed carbon which we have named, Carbon
megatubes .
A publication will appear on this shortly.
With Professor
Tetsuo Kondo of Tsukuba, Japan, we are investigating the structure and
properties of a new form of cellulose known as nematic
ordered cellulose .
Prospective Graduate Students!
If you are interested in an excellent
opportunity here at UT-Austin, consider our
IGERT Program
In Optical Biomedical Engineering
I am a co-PI on this project and have graduate students in this area.
I also teach a graduate
course in Laboratory Methods in Cell Biology (Biology 393L)
I am also interested in prospective graduate students who want to investigate the biochemistry, molecular biology and structure of cellulose in all of its forms
Click on the Icon Below to Learn More about this "cool" program!
Professor Brown's Bio 323L/Bot 393L Class Pages
Information
On RMB Lab Group Members (Includes
section on past lab associates.)
Ongoing
Research in the RMB Lab
Research
Support Acknowledgements
Brown Lab's Publication List (Go here to view
or download articles.)
Brown Lab's Anticipated or In Press Publication List (Go
here to view or download articles.)
Photo
Tour of the RMB Lab (Take a walk
through Painter Hall!)
Movies
and 3-D Imaging Projects From The Brown Lab
The NANO Page! (Exciting research using
the TEM at atomic and molecular levels of resolution)
Talks Papers, and Images to Download
Click
on Photo Icon above to download a paper published 10 years ago Algae
as tools in studying the biosynthesis of cellulose,nature's most abundant
macromolecule. This work describes the use of algae as tools
in the study of cellulose. Some very interesting phylogentic predictions
on the evolution of cellulose biogenesis from the first cell, to the role
of cellulose biosynthesis in understanding the evolution of land plants.
Chara and Nitella have solitary rosette TCs which places them squarely
in the pathway towards land plant evolution. Coleochaete has a novel octagonal
rosette TC making it somewhat different and possibly further related to
land plants. In this paper, the single row of TC subunits in Dictyostelium
was first revealed.
"Biogenesis of Natural Polymer Systems with Special Reference to Cellulose
Assembly and Deposition" A complete Review
by
R. Malcolm Brown, Jr. published in 1978. ( kindly reproduced in its entirety
with permission of Philip Morris)
A Position Paper by R. Malcolm
Brown, Jr."Microbial
Cellulose: A New Resource for Wood, Paper, Textiles, Food and Specialty
Products"
"Cellulose
Biosyntheis in Higher Plants" Our latest review which appeared in Trends
in Plant Science
Our paper which has
appeared in the journal, Cellulose, "
Identification of celluose synthase(s) in higher plants: Sequence analysis
of processive beta-glycosyltransferases with the common motif "D,D,D35Q(R,Q)XRW"
A talk by Professor Brown
on "Connecting
Science: Critical Ingredients, Impact on our Future" given before the
Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT) convention in Austin, Texas
on November 1, 1996 (with accompanying slides).
A poster by Inder M.
Saxena and R. Malcolm Brown, Jr. Genetic
Analysis of Cellulose Biosynthesis in Acetobacter xylinum: Implications
for Cellulose Crystallization I
stay tuned, many more papers will soon be added!
Real cotton seeds and their fibers at maturity represent each of the
rosette terminal complex subunits. The rosette TC is the enzyme complex
responsible for cellulose biosynthesis in vascular plants, first described
by Mueller
and Brown in 1980.
Comments? We would like to hear from you! Email Here!
The background of this page is a cellulosic scale synthesized in the Golgi apparatus of the marine alga, Pleurochysis scherfelii (Photo- courtesy Dr. Dwight Romanovicz)
