Professor Paul Dupree

I research plant carbohydrates, which are the most abundant biological materials on earth. Plant carbohydrates are all around us. By understanding their structure and how plants make them, my research could reduce the use of fossil fuels and plastics, replacing them with renewable and biodegradable alternatives. We aim to improve the use of wood in building construction and in manufacture of textiles, to improve dietary fibre, and to replace calorific sugars in our diet with sweet alternatives.

Simmons TJ, Mortimer JC, Bernardinelli OD, Pöppler AC, Brown SP, deAzevedo ER, Dupree R, Dupree P. (2016) Folding of xylan onto cellulose fibrils in plant cell walls revealed by solid-state NMR. Nat Commun. 21;7:13902.

Zhang Y, Nikolovski N, Sorieul M, Vellosillo T, McFarlane HE, Dupree R, Kesten C, Schneider R, Driemeier C, Lathe R, Lampugnani E, Yu X, Ivakov A, Doblin MS, Mortimer JC, Brown SP, Persson S, Dupree P. (2016) Golgi-localized STELLO proteins regulate the assembly and trafficking of cellulose synthase complexes in Arabidopsis. Nat Commun. 9;7:11656

Bromley JR, Busse-Wicher M, Tryfona T, Mortimer JC, Zhang Z, Brown D, Dupree P. (2013) GUX1 and GUX2 glucuronyltransferases decorate distinct domains of glucuronoxylan with different substitution patterns. Plant J. 74(3):423–434.

Anders N, Wilkinson MD, Lovegrove A, Freeman J, Tryfona T, Pellny TK, Weimar T, Mortimer JC, Stott K, Baker JM, Defoin-Platel M, Shewry PR, Dupree P, Mitchell RAC. (2012) Glycosyl transferases in family 61 mediate arabinofuranosyl transfer onto xylan in grasses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Jan 17;109(3):989-93.