title: Composition of plant cell walls.
abstract: The present study reviews the most recent research published (starting approximately in the 1980s) on the composition of plant cell walls, with a description of the polysaccharides contained in the microfibrillar and amorphous phases: cellulose, hemicellulose and pectic substances, as well as the other components: lignin, proteins and enzymes. Cellulose is a linear homopolymer made up of microfibrils that form a para-crystalline structure stabilised by hydrogen bridges. The hemicelluloses constitute an important group of polysaccharides, which are inter-linked and also linked to microfibrils of cellulose and/or pectins, the most important being: xylans, arabinoxylans, mannans, galactomannans, glucomannans, arabinogalactan II, beta-1,3-glucan and beta-1,3-beta-1,4-glucans. The pectic substances are a complex mixture of colloidal polysaccharides that can be extracted from the cell wall with water or chelating agents, the most significant being: rhamnogalacturonan I, rhamnogalacturonan II, arabinan, galactan, arabinogalactan I and D-galacturonan.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biotecnología de Alimentos, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heredia
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guillén
mesh_terms: D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000737:chemistry / Q000201:enzymology; D002482:Cellulose / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D006867:Hydrolases / Q000032:analysis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010368:Pectins / Q000737:chemistry; D010544:Peroxidases / Q000032:analysis; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000201:enzymology; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011134:Polysaccharides; D010368:Pectins; D002482:Cellulose; D010544:Peroxidases; D006867:Hydrolases