Profile of Daniel J. Cosgrove

摘要

The proper development, growth, and functioning of plants rely on the relaxation and expansion of plant cell walls and the osmotic actions associated with such cell structure changes. Proteins known as expansins play a key role in cell wall expansion in certain plants. For example, to reach its target, microscopic maize pollen must travel over 6 inches through the narrow confines of corn silk, and expansins grease the pollen's pathways, helping it squeeze between tightly packed cell walls. Plant biochemist Daniel J. Cosgrove, elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2005, led the team that first isolated expansins from cucumber seedlings in 1992, during his search for the protein that causes plant cell wall relaxation.