Plant Cytoskeleton

Bo Liu is professor in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of California in Davis, California. He received his B.S. degree in cell biology and genetics and M.S. degree in cell biology from Peking University in Beijing, China, and Ph.D. degree in botany from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. Research in his laboratory is focused on studying the cytoskeletal basis of intracellular motility in flowering plants and filamentous fungi.

• Structural basis of the plant cytoskeleton.- Actin filaments and actin-binding proteins.- Actin-based motor myosins in plants.- Microtubules in plants.- Microtubule-associated proteins and microtubule organization.- Microtubule nucleation and organization in plant cells.- Microtubule plus end-binding proteins and microtubule dynamics.-Microtubule-based motor kinesins in plants.- Dynamics of cortical microtubules.- The cytoskeleton in organelle movement, cell division, and organelle division.- Myosins and organelle movement in plant cells.- Formation of acentrosomal spindles.- Establishment of cell division plane.- Cytoskeletal basis of asymmetrical cell division in plants.-Microtubule-based motor kinesins in plant cytokinesis.- Microtubule reorganization by protein phosphorylation during cell division.- Plastid division.-The cytoskeleton and plant cell differentiation.- The actin filaments and tip growth in mosses.-The actin cytoskeleton and root hair growth.- The cytoskeleton and pollen tube growth.- Microtubules and cellulose deposition.- The cytoskeleton and trichome morphogenesis.-Signaling the cytoskeleton for cell morphogenesis of leaf epidermal pavement cells.-The cytoskeleton and plant growth.- Actin filament dynamics and self-incompatibility.- Microtubules and gravitropism.- Microtubules and twisted growth.