Markus Pauly
Markus Pauly (born February 15, 1969) is a German glycobiologist, biochemist, and molecular biologist. He is currently professor at the Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf. His research focuses on plant cell wall polysaccharides including their biosynthesis and biotechnological applications.[1]
Education and Career
Markus Pauly studied Biology at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany, where he earned both his Diplom and PhD degrees. The experimental work for both theses, which focused on developing analytical tools to investigate the structure and function of the hemicellulose xyloglucan, was carried out at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center under the supervision of Alan Darvill and Peter Albersheim. He subsequently completed a postdoctoral appointment as a Research Assistant Professor at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he investigated the enzymatic biosynthesis of hemicelluloses. He then held a Marie Curie Fellowship at Unilever in Sharnbrook, UK, studying transport processes through plant biomass. Following this, he established his independent research career as a group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Golm, Germany, where he used plant mutants to elucidate the biosynthetic pathways of plant cell wall polysaccharides.[2] Pauly was later appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Michigan State University, where he was also a member of the Plant Research Laboratory.[3] During this time, he became one of the founding members of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, expanding his research to include the deconstruction and processing of plant biomass for bioenergy and biobased applications. He subsequently joined the University of California, Berkeley, where he was promoted to Full Professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. At Berkeley, he held the Fred H. Dickinson Chair in Wood Science and Technology and conducted research as a member of the BP-funded Energy Biosciences Institute. Since 2016, Markus Pauly has been Professor at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, where he serves as Head of the Institute of Plant Cell Biology and Biotechnology. He is also a principal investigator in the Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), leading research on the plant traits for the creation of a “smart” plant.[4]
Pauly has received numerous honors for his research and teaching, including the Springorum Award (1993) and Borchers Plate (1999) from RWTH Aachen University, a BBSRC Underwood Fellowship (2005), a Presidential Chair Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley (2012), and a Theodore von Kármán Fellowship from RWTH Aachen (2014). He was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher from 2017 to 2019 and received the Heinrich Heine Teaching Award[5] in 2022 for excellence in large-lecture teaching.
Research Highlights
- Developing analytical tools for plant cell-wall research: Beginning with his doctoral work, Pauly developed analytical methods for characterizing xyloglucan and other wall polysaccharides. These tools such as the oligosaccharide mass profiling (OLIMP) tool allowed studying the composition and architecture of plant cell walls at a molecular level.[6]
- Elucidating the biosynthesis pathways of plant cell-wall polysaccharides: Pauly's research has identified key enzymes and genes responsible for constructing major hemicellulose polymers in plants, particularly xyloglucans that are essential for cell growth, mechanical strength, and development.[7]
- Discovering mechanisms of polysaccharide O-acetylation: Pauly's group identified several genes involved in the addition of acetyl groups to plant cell-wall polysaccharides. These chemical modifications strongly affect wall properties, biomass processing, and plant-pathogen interactions.[8]
- Advancing biomass engineering for biofuels and the bioeconomy: Pauly has contributed to efforts to make lignocellulosic biomass easier to convert into fuels and renewable chemicals, by identifying structural features that make plant biomass resistant to degradation.[9]
References
- ↑ "Plant Cell Biology". www.plant-cell.hhu.de. Retrieved 2026-07-26.
- ↑ "Dr. Markus Pauly". www.mpimp-golm.mpg.de. Retrieved 2026-07-26.
- ↑ "PRL History". prl.natsci.msu.edu. Retrieved 2026-07-26.
- ↑ "CEPLAS: Prof. Dr. Markus Pauly". www.ceplas.eu. Retrieved 2026-07-26.
- ↑ "Bisherige Preisträger*innen". www.sell.hhu.de. Retrieved 2026-07-26.
- ↑ Lerouxel, Olivier; Choo, Tze Siang; Séveno, Martial; Usadel, Björn; Faye, Loı̈c; Lerouge, Patrice; Pauly, Markus (2002-12-01). "Rapid Structural Phenotyping of Plant Cell Wall Mutants by Enzymatic Oligosaccharide Fingerprinting". Plant Physiology. 130 (4): 1754–1763. doi:10.1104/pp.011965. ISSN 1532-2548. PMC 1540271. PMID 12481058.
- ↑ Pauly, Markus; Keegstra, Kenneth (2016-04-29). "Biosynthesis of the Plant Cell Wall Matrix Polysaccharide Xyloglucan*". Annual Review of Plant Biology. 67 (Volume 67, 2016): 235–259. doi:10.1146/annurev-arplant-043015-112222. ISSN 1543-5008.
- ↑ Pauly, Markus; Ramírez, Vicente (2018-08-21). "New Insights Into Wall Polysaccharide O-Acetylation". Frontiers in Plant Science. 9. doi:10.3389/fpls.2018.01210. ISSN 1664-462X. PMC 6110886. PMID 30186297.
- ↑ Robertz, Stefan; Philipp, Magnus; Schipper, Kerstin; Richter, Paul; Miebach, Katharina; Magnus, Jorgen; Pauly, Markus; Ramírez, Vicente (2024-09-14). "Monitoring corn stover processing by the fungus Ustilago maydis". Bioresources and Bioprocessing. 11 (1): 87. doi:10.1186/s40643-024-00802-3. ISSN 2197-4365. PMC 11401804 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 39276241 Check|pmid=value (help).
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