title: Structural Diversity and Function of Xyloglucan Sidechain Substituents.
abstract: Xyloglucan (XyG) is a hemicellulose found in the cell walls of all land plants including early-divergent groups such as liverworts, hornworts and mosses. The basic structure of XyG, a xylosylated glucan, is similar in all of these plants but additional substituents can vary depending on plant family, tissue, and developmental stage. A comprehensive list of known XyG sidechain substituents is assembled including their occurrence within plant families, thereby providing insight into the evolutionary origin of the various sidechains. Recent advances in DNA sequencing have enabled comparative genomics approaches for the identification of XyG biosynthetic enzymes in Arabidopsis thaliana as well as in non-model plant species. Characterization of these biosynthetic genes not only allows the determination of their substrate specificity but also provides insights into the function of the various substituents in plant growth and development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. aschult@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schultink
authors.affiliation: Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. lifeng.liu@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Lifeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. lei.zhu@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. mpauly69@berkeley.edu.|Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. mpauly69@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pauly
keywords: glycosyltransferase; hemicellulose; plant cell walls; polysaccharide; xyloglucan