Lignin plant cell walls

Hemicellulose [9034-32-6] is the least utilized component of the biomass triad comprising cellulose (qv), lignin (qv), and hemiceUulose. The term was origiaated by Schulze (1) and is used here to distinguish the nonceUulosic polysaccharides of plant cell walls from those that are not part of the wall stmcture. Confusion arises because other hemicellulose definitions based on solvent extraction are often used in the Hterature (2—4). The term polyose is used in Europe to describe these nonceUulosic polysaccharides from wood, whereas hemicellulose is used to describe the alkaline extracts from commercial pulps (4). The quantity of hemicellulose in different sources varies considerably as shown in Table 1. 

Historically, dietary fiber referred to iasoluble plant cell wall material, primarily polysaccharides, not digested by the endogenous enzymes of the human digestive tract. This definition has been extended to iaclude other nondigestible polysaccharides, from plants and other sources, that are iacorporated iato processed foods. Cellulose [9004-34-6] (qv) is fibrous however, lignin [9005-53-2] (qv) and many other polysaccharides ia food do not have fiberlike stmctures (see also Carbohydrates). 

Detergent Methods. The neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) methods (2), later modified for human foods (13), measure total insoluble plant cell wall material (NDF) and the cellulose—lignin complex (ADF). The easily solubilized pectins and some associated polysaccharides, galactomaimans of legume seeds, various plant gums, and seaweed polysaccharides are extracted away from the NDF. They caimot be recovered easily from the extract, and therefore the soluble fiber fraction is lost. 

Dietary fibre, which comprises all the non-digestible structural carbohydrates of plant cell walls and any associate lignin, provides a further example of a complex food-borne factor which cannot be classified as a nutrient, and which continues to generate debate over such issues as definition and analytical techniques. However, whatever the unresolved complexities, dietary fibre has a lengthy history and had proved itself eminently suitable as a component of functional food products long before the term was even coined. 

Such a study has been performed on a model plant system, the Nitella flexilis cell wall [1, 2, 3]. This freshwater alga has giant intemodal cells whose easily isolated cell walls constitute a simplified model of higher plant cell walls it has no lignin and its pectin is not methylesterified. Isolated cell walls are cut in pieces and distributed in different lots over the whole exchange isotherm to reduce variability between experimental points. 

The plant cell wall contains different types of polysaccharides, proteins (structural glycoproteins and enzymes), lignin and water, as well as some inorganic components (1, 14-16). The plant cell suspensions, however, grow as a population of cells with a primary cell wall(17). The main components of these walls are cellulose-free polysaccharides and pectic polysaccharides in particular, which constitute 1/3 of their dry weight. (18). Some fragments, e g. methanol, acetic, ferulic and p-cumaric acids, are connected with the pectic polysaccharides by ester bonds with the carboxylic and hydroxylic groups. 

Plant cell walls are constructed from cellulose, hemicelluloses, and pectins with varying amounts of lignin, tannins, gums, proteins, minerals,... 

Each cell consists primarily of a membrane, which separates it from the environment, preserves its structural integrity, and keeps it apart from other cells or from the surrounding environment. Plant cells, unlike animal cells, also have, in addition to a cell membrane, a cell wall, composed of cellulose and lignin. The cell wall provides structural strength not only to the vegetable cell itself but to all plant tissues as well. Inside the membrane, the interior of the cell, known as the protoplasm, includes two main... 

Fluorescence occurs when radiant energy is absorbed and then, almost instantly, some of the energy is re-emitted, usually at a longer wavelength. Primary fluorescence (autofluorescence) occurs in flavo-proteins (13), plant cell wall materials such as lignin (7), and in flagella (14). Secondary fluorescence is when a material binds a fluorescent dye... 

THE BIOSYNTHESIS AND BIOGENESIS OF LIGNIN IN PLANT CELL WALLS... 

Lignin is found in plant cell walls of supporting and conducting tissue, mostly the trac-heids and vessel parts of the xylem. It is largely found in the thickened secondary wall but can occur elsewhere close to the celluloses and hemicelluloses. 

Plant cell walls are complex, heterogeneous structures composed mainly of polymers, such as cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignins. In spite of several decades of research, cell wall assembly and the biosynthesis and ultimate biodegradative pathways of individual polymers are still far from being fully understood. One simple example will suffice Even today, no enzyme capable of catalyzing cellulose formation in vitro has been obtained. 

Attachment of Hydroxycinnamic Acids to Structural Cell Wall Polymers. Peroxidase mediation may also result in binding the hydroxycinnamic acids to the plant cell wall polymers (66,67). For example, it was reported that peroxidases isolated from the cell walls of Pinus elliottii catalyze the formation of alkali-stable linkages between [2-14C] ferulic acid 1 and pine cell walls (66). Presumably this is a consequence of free-radical coupling of the phenoxy radical species (from ferulic acid 1) with other free-radical moieties on the lignin polymer. There is some additional indirect support for this hypothesis, since we have established that E-ferulic acid 1 is a good substrate for horseradish peroxidase with an apparent Km (77 /tM), which is approximately one fifth of that for E-coniferyl alcohol (400 /iM) (unpublished data). 

Vascular plant cell walls contain a wide variety of phenylpropanoids, such as monomers, dimers and polymers. Of these, the polymers (i.e., lignins and suberins) are the most abundant. According to our current knowledge, all cell-wall phenylpropanoids are derived from monomers synthesized in the cytoplasm. Following their excretion into the plant cell wall, these monomers can then be either photochemically or biochemically modified within the cell wall. 

In plant cell walls, lignin monomers seem to be present in vivo in the form of cinnamyl alcohols. In vitro, their acid precursors can also be oxidized by peroxidases (3). In order to gain further insight into the possible... 

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