title: A molecular description of cellulose biosynthesis.
abstract: Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on Earth, and certain organisms from bacteria to plants and animals synthesize cellulose as an extracellular polymer for various biological functions. Humans have used cellulose for millennia as a material and an energy source, and the advent of a lignocellulosic fuel industry will elevate it to the primary carbon source for the burgeoning renewable energy sector. Despite the biological and societal importance of cellulose, the molecular mechanism by which it is synthesized is now only beginning to emerge. On the basis of recent advances in structural and molecular biology on bacterial cellulose synthases, we review emerging concepts of how the enzymes polymerize glucose molecules, how the nascent polymer is transported across the plasma membrane, and how bacterial cellulose biosynthesis is regulated during biofilm formation. Additionally, we review evolutionary commonalities and differences between cellulose synthases that modulate the nature of the cellulose product formed.
authors.affiliation: Center for Membrane Biology, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908; email: Jtm4r@virginia.edu , Jlm2qp@virginia.edu , jochen_zimmer@virginia.edu.
authors.forename: Joshua T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: McNamara
authors.forename: Jacob L W
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zimmer
mesh_terms: D020134:Catalytic Domain; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000737:chemistry; D002482:Cellulose / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004579:Electron Transport; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D010944:Plants / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002482:Cellulose; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases
keywords: biofilm; cellulose synthase; cyclic di-GMP; exopolysaccharide biosynthesis; membrane transport; processive glycosyltransferase