Why the taxpayer profits from plant cell biology—special issue “Applied Plant Cell Biology”

Abstract

Plant cell biologists are often perceived as the guys that produce esthetically appealing images, and are deeply rooted in the realm of pure science, far away from anything that might be biotechnologically relevant. Why should the taxpayer fund this curiosity-driven type of research? Maybe, because science is a central part of human culture and therefore should be supported in the same manner as the public funds theatres or art exhibitions? This view is frequently encountered in the West. If this view were true, why should a pragmatic country like China invest so much effort to develop plant cell biology—by the way manifested by a rising number of cell-biological publications from China also in this journal. These considerations motivated an exploratory symposium on “Applied Plant Cell Biology” in March 2011 funded by the SinoGerman Science Center, where 40 scientists from both countries highlighted different aspects of the interface between plant cell biology and application. The pronounced developmental and metabolic capacities of plant cells provide the base of agriculture and green biotechnology and have been studied very intensively with respect to its genetic aspects. The so-called Green Revolution has ensured a reliable and cost-efficient supply with food resources to a growing population. A major part of this success story is based on three factors: advances in plant nutrition, advances in plant protection, and advances in plant genetics. The challenge of the coming years will be to reconcile increased agricultural productivity with sustainability. The potential of plant nutrition and plant protection has been basically exploited, what remains, are advances in generating new genotypes with improved productivity, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and improved or even novel metabolic potential. However, it becomes increasingly clear that the potential of applied plant science can only be fully exploited when we understand the cellular mechanisms such as compartmentalisation, intracellular transport, cell differentiation, and communication. To understand biotechnologically relevant molecular mechanisms for stress tolerance and accumulation of interesting compounds, we need a strong background in molecular cell biology. Therefore the current special issue exemplarily has selected three issues from this symposium highly relevant for biotechnological application: control of plant architecture through cytoskeleton and cell wall, control of development by signals, and the impact of cellular compartmentalisation for plant metabolism.