Plant cell primary hemicellulose

Glucomannans (GM) and galactoglucomannans (GGM), common constituents of plant cell walls, are the major hemicellulosic components of the secondary cell walls of softwoods, whereas in the secondary cell walls of hardwoods they occur in minor amounts. They are suggested to be present together with xylan and fucogalactoxyloglucan in the primary cell walls of higher plants [192]. These polysaccharides were extensively studied in the 1960s [6,193]. 

The primary walls of growing plant cells are composed of 90% carbohydrate and 10% protein (51). Carbohydrate in the primary wall is present predominantly as cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. The pectic polysaccharides, are defined as a group of cell wall polymers containing a-l,4-linked D-galactosyluronic acid residues (62,76). Pectic polysaccharides are a major component of the primary cell waU of dicots (22-35%), arc abundant in gymnosperms and non-graminaceous monocots, and are present in reduced amounts (-10%) in the primary walls of the graminaceae (27,62). 

The components of the plant cell wall (8-21) are the middle lamella (intercellular substance), the primary wall, and the secondary wall. The middle lamella is the pectic layer between cells and holds adjoining cells together as do membrane carbohydrates. The primary wall is thin (1-3 pm) and flexible containing cellulose, hemicelluloses, pectins, and glycoproteins. This wall provides mechanical strength, maintains cell shape,... 

Cellulose microfibrils make up the basic framework of the primary wall of young plant cells (3), where they form a complex network with other polysaccharides. The linking polysaccharides include hemicellulose, which is a mixture of predominantly neutral heterogly-cans (xylans, xyloglucans, arabinogalactans, etc.). Hemicellulose associates with the cellulose fibrils via noncovalent interactions. These complexes are connected by neutral and acidic pectins, which typically contain galac-turonic acid. Finally, a collagen-related protein, extensin, is also involved in the formation of primary walls. 

Darvill, J. E., McNeil, M., Darvill, A. G., Albersheim, P. (1980). Structure of plant cell walls XL Glucuronoarabi-noxylan. A second hemicellulose in the primary cell walls of suspension-cultured sycamore cells. Plant Physiol, 66,1135-1139. 

Plants are predominantly composed of parenchyma and woody tissues. Parenchyma cells dominate the green tissues in leaves and are composed of a protein-rich protoplast surrounded by a cellulose wall. Woody plant cells dominate all support (sclerenchyma) and transport (xylem and phloem) stmctures in a plant. They are composed of several layers (middle lamella, primary wall, secondary wall, and tertiary wall) with varying proportions of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin (Fengel and Wegener, 1984). 

The cell walls are composed of microfibrils interconnected by hemicelluloses. Other polymers such as pectin and lignin fill up the space between cellulosic microfibrils and hemicelluloses. Cells are connected to neighboring cells by middle lamellae, the thin lignin-rich outermost layer of the cell wall (Taherzadeh and Jeihanipour, 2012). The primary cell wall is the outer layer containing cellulose microfibrils arranged in random. The secondary cell wall is differentiated into outer (SI), middle (S2), and inner (S3) layers (Figure 3.1). The thickness of each layer differs, but the S2 layer is the thickest and constitutes the major part of the plant cell wall (Taherzadeh... 

Hemicelluloses are a structurally heterogenic group of polysaccharides, which vary in their monosaccharide composition, glycosidic linkage content, substitution pattern and degree of polymerisation (Table I) (i). The primary structure of hemicelluloses depends on the type of plant and may even vary between different parts of the same plant (J-5). The term hemicellulose itself is not very clear. It is rather loosely defined as plant cell wall polysaccharides which are closely associated with cellulose (6). Hemicelluloses are often water soluble in native form but extractable in larger amounts only with alkaline solutions due to the complex multilayer structure of the cell walls. 

Hemicelluloses and Related Polysaccharides. Hemicelluloses [9034-32-6] are a large group of polysaccharides that are associated with cellulose in the primary and secondary cell walls of all higher plants, but otherwise have no relationship to cellulose (2). They are also present in some other plants. 

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