Cell walls polymeric interaction

Cellulose is insoluble in water because of the high affinity of the polymer chains for one another. Its individual polymeric chains have molecular weights of 50,000 or greater. The molecular chains of cellulose interact in parallel bundles of about 2,000 chains. Each bundle constitutes a single microfibril. Many microfibrils arranged in parallel constitute a macrofibril, which can be seen under the light microscope. Figure 12.10 shows the inner cell walls of the plant Valonia the fibrils in the wall are almost pure cellulose. 

Polymeric carbohydrates are major structural components in plant and bacterial cell walls and in the extracellular matrix of vertebrates. Branched-chain polymeric carbohydrates covalently linked to proteins are used to give proteins unique signatures that guide them to their final destination and that facilitate specific interactions between free proteins or proteins attached to cells. 

There has been a considerable interest in the interactions between different polymeric constituents of the cell wall. In the approximation of comparing wood to reinforced composites, the fibrillar skeleton of cellulose is embedded in an amorphous matrix, consisting of lignin and hemicellulose (Frey-Wyssling,... 

The yeast envelope is a rigid structure and can be considered as one of the largest molecules of the cell. At the same time, it is a dynamic structure. Progress toward an understanding of the biochemistry and biology of the wall is crucial we cannot study the structure and biosynthesis independently of the control mechanisms involved in the polymerization of the components and also of the interactions which take place during assembly of the cell wall. 

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