Alga Valonia Ventricosa

Figure 8. Percentage survival of the alga Valonia ventricosa after 3 days of exposure to various temperatures. Note changes near 15-16 and 31-32 C. (From Thorhaug, 1976 see also Drost-Hansen, 1981).

Fig. 2.23. Outermost lamellae of the wall of the alga Valonia ventricosa. EM picture at X 25,000. (From R. D. Preston, The Molecular Architecture of Plant Cell Walls, Chapman Hall, London, 1952.)...

In one outline, cellulose from Valonia ventricosa, an alga, was boiled in excess 1% aqueous NaOH for 6 h, with a change of alkali solution after 3 h the alkali-treated cellulose was washed with distilled water (Blackwell, et al., 1977), then immersed overnight in 0.05-N HC1 at room temperature. The... 

In particularly pure form and high crystallinity, cellulose is synthesized by certain bacteria (e.g. Acetobacter xylinus) and occurs in certain algae (e.g. Valonia ventricosa). These sources are important for basic research and are not used to produce thermoplastic cellulose material. 

High-resolution images of cellulose I microcrystals [155] demonstrated the application of CM-AFM to the study of large biopolymers. Here, the 0.52 nm repeat along the chains of the cellulose from Valonia ventricosa (a dark-green balloon-Uke marine alga) was observed. AFM has also been used to study the polysaccharides present in wheat straw cell walls [156], where clear differences can be seen both before and after de-waxing. Cellulose appeared to form microfibrils which were orientated in one direction. These fibrils measured some 20 nm in diameter and are believed to contain as many as 60-80 cellulose molecular chains. 

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