Eat the Wall!

The plant cell wall is not only essential for growth and stress defence but also plays a major role in human nutrition. Plant walls provide dietary fibre and influence nutrient availability, yet research on improving these properties has lagged behind efforts focused on biofuel production.

Our project explores how C2H2 zinc finger (ZF) transcription factors regulate cell wall composition, stress resistance, and nutrient bioavailability. By studying agriculturally important crops like rapeseed, tomato, and barley, we aim to:

• Identify genetic lines with modified ZF activity and analyse their cell wall structure and mechanics.

• Assess how these modifications improve drought and cold stress resistance.

• Evaluate their impact on nutrient availability and sensory (organoleptic) traits.

• Explore natural variation in crops to link gene function with adaptive traits.

Through Eat the Wall!, we seek to optimise cell wall traits for sustainable agriculture while enhancing food quality and resilience under climate stress. We are also interested in finding industrial collaborators, either in food crops or in other type of crops.

This project is funded by the Kempe Foundation (Kempestiftelserna)