Cellulose structure and biosynthesis

Brown, R. Malcolm

doi:10.1351/pac199971050767

Cited by 49 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Consisting of cellulose Iα and Iβ, both forms are composed of parallel glucan chains (Kuga et al, 1988;Maurer et al, 1992;Koyama et al, 1997). The parallel glucan chains in natural cellulose are compatible with the idea that glucan chains in an elementary cellulose microfibril are made simultaneously (Brown, 1999a;Brown et al, 2000). In higher plants, the ratio of cellulose Iα to Iβ varies among different species and types of walls (Atalla et al, 1984;Sturcova et al, 2004).…”

Section: General Structure Of Cellulosementioning

confidence: 58%

“…Together with van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonding aggregates glucan chains together side-by-side and promotes parallel stacking of cellulose microfibrils into crystalline cellulose (Brett, 2000;Somerville, 2006). The natural form of crystalline cellulose is cellulose I. Cellulose I can be irreversibly converted into cellulose II, a form that is more stable than the cellulose I (Brown, 1999a;Brett, 2000). Consisting of cellulose Iα and Iβ, both forms are composed of parallel glucan chains (Kuga et al, 1988;Maurer et al, 1992;Koyama et al, 1997).…”

Section: General Structure Of Cellulosementioning

confidence: 99%

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Cellulose Synthesis and Its Regulation

Bashline

Lei

et al. 2014

The Arabidopsis Book

124

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Cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer synthesized on land, is made of linear chains of β (1-4) linked D-glucose. As a major structural component of the cell wall, cellulose is important not only for industrial use but also for plant growth and development. Cellulose microfibrils are tethered by other cell wall polysaccharides such as hemicellulose, pectin, and lignin. In higher plants, cellulose is synthesized by plasma membrane-localized rosette cellulose synthase complexes. Despite the recent advances using a combination of molecular genetics, live cell imaging, and spectroscopic tools, many aspects of the cellulose synthesis remain a mystery. In this chapter, we highlight recent research progress towards understanding the mechanism of cellulose synthesis in Arabidopsis.

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Section: General Structure Of Cellulosementioning

confidence: 58%

Section: General Structure Of Cellulosementioning

confidence: 99%

Cellulose Synthesis and Its Regulation

Bashline

Lei

et al. 2014

The Arabidopsis Book

124

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“…The social amoeba, Dictyostelium, requires cellulose for stalk and spore formation (Blanton et al, 2000), and cellulose synthesis is also present in some fungi, although its function remains unclear (Stone, 2005). Among metazoans, cellulose biosynthesis is found only in the tunicate subphylum (Brown, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional specialization of cellulose synthase genes of prokaryotic origin in chordate larvaceans

Sagane¹,

Zech²,

Bouquet³

et al. 2010

Development

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SUMMARYExtracellular matrices play important, but poorly investigated, roles in morphogenesis. Extracellular cellulose is central to regulation of pattern formation in plants, but among metazoans only tunicates are capable of cellulose biosynthesis. Cellulose synthase (CesA) gene products are present in filter-feeding structures of all tunicates and also regulate metamorphosis in the ascidian Ciona. Ciona CesA is proposed to have been acquired by lateral gene transfer from a prokaryote. We identified two CesA genes in the sister-class larvacean Oikopleura dioica. Each has a mosaic structure of a glycoslyltransferase 2 domain upstream of a glycosyl hydrolase family 6 cellulase-like domain, a signature thus far unique to tunicates. Spatial-temporal expression analysis revealed that Od-CesA1 produces long cellulose fibrils along the larval tail, whereas Od-CesA2 is responsible for the cellulose scaffold of the postmetamorphic filter-feeding house. Knockdown of Od-CesA1 inhibited cellulose production in the extracellular matrix of the larval tail. Notochord cells either failed to align or were misaligned, the tail did not elongate properly and tailbud embryos also exhibited a failure to hatch. Knockdown of Od-CesA2 did not elicit any of these phenotypes and instead caused a mild delay in pre-house formation. Phylogenetic analyses including Od-CesAs indicate that a single lateral gene transfer event from a prokaryote at the base of the lineage conferred biosynthetic capacity in all tunicates. Ascidians possess one CesA gene, whereas duplicated larvacean genes have evolved distinct temporal and functional specializations. Extracellular cellulose microfibrils produced by the premetamorphic Od-CesA1 duplicate have a role in notochord and tail morphogenesis.

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“…Despite the diversity of species producing cellulose, only one group of animals has the ability to biosynthesize cellulose, the urochordates (2). The urochordates are ubiquitous marine invertebrate chordates that have a similar body plan, embryology, and physiology with their sister chordates, the cephalochordates and the vertebrates (3).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A functional cellulose synthase from ascidian epidermis

Matthysse

Deschet

Williams

et al. 2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

115

101

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Among animals, urochordates (e.g., ascidians) are unique in their ability to biosynthesize cellulose. In ascidians cellulose is synthesized in the epidermis and incorporated into a protective coat know as the tunic. A putative cellulose synthase-like gene was first identified in the genome sequences of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. We describe here a cellulose synthase gene from the ascidian Ciona savignyi that is expressed in the epidermis. The predicted C. savignyi cellulose synthase amino acid sequence showed conserved features found in all cellulose synthases, including plants, but was most similar to cellulose synthases from bacteria, fungi, and Dictyostelium discoidium. However, unlike other known cellulose synthases, the predicted C. savignyi polypeptide has a degenerate cellulase-like region near the carboxyl-terminal end. An expression construct carrying the C. savignyi cDNA was found to restore cellulose biosynthesis to a cellulose synthase (CelA) minus mutant of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, showing that the predicted protein has cellulose synthase activity. The lack of cellulose biosynthesis in all other groups of metazoans and the similarity of the C. savignyi cellulose synthase to enzymes from cellulose-producing organisms support the hypothesis that the urochordates acquired the cellulose biosynthetic pathway by horizontal transfer.

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Cellulose structure and biosynthesis

Cited by 49 publications

References 27 publications

Cellulose Synthesis and Its Regulation

Cellulose Synthesis and Its Regulation

Functional specialization of cellulose synthase genes of prokaryotic origin in chordate larvaceans

A functional cellulose synthase from ascidian epidermis

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