Non-cellulosic structural polysaccharides in algal cell walls - II. Association of xylan and mannan in Porphyra umbilicalis

The structure of the walls of the red alga Porphyra umbilicalis , a member of the Bangiaceae, has been examined by chemical and physical methods, and observations have been made on Bangia fusco-purpurea sufficient to establish that there is no essential difference in wall structure between these two algae. Mannan and xylan, which are the two major skeletal polysaccharides of these algae, are found to be spatially segregated within an individual plant. The cell walls proper contain microfibrils of β -1,3-linked xylan identical with the microfibrils found in certain siphoneous green algae and constituted therefore of parallel arrays of double-stranded helices. The incrusting substances probably include mannan and xylan. The cuticle has been shown to consist predominantly of mannan (with no or little xylan) which becomes crystalline only after treatment such as extraction with hot water. The crystalline mannan is β -1,4-linked and appears identical with the mannan which forms the walls of still another group of siphoneous green algae. No evidence has been found for any structure such as microfibrils in the cuticle; it shows at best only a granular appearance. The cell walls are clearly lamellated; they merge gradually into the intercellular material (mainly mannan) and this in turn into the dense outer sheath of the plant—the cuticle. The microfibrils of individual lamellaelie at random in all the walls with the exception of the rhizoids. The rhizoids are as a rule narrow, with thick, compact walls in which the microfibrils lie through out parallel to rhizoid length with the short cross-connexions typical of the green algae with xylan walls. The apex of the rhizoids are thin-walled and sometimes dilated. The undilated tips are characterized by a small patch of randomly arranged microfibrils at the extreme apex with a progressive tendency towards longitudinal orientation below. The implications of this structure for the growth of rhizoids is discussed.

The cell walls of a number of marine algae, namely species of Bryopsis, Caulerpa, Udotea, Halimeda and Penicillus and of one freshwater alga, Dichotomosiphon , are examined using both chemical and physical techniques. It is shown that, with the possible exception of Bryopsis , cellulose is completely absent and that the walls contain instead β -l,3-linked xylan as the structural polysaccharide. Bryopsis contains, in addition, a glucan which is most abundant in the outer layers of the wall and which stains like cellulose. The xylan is microfibrillar but the microfibrils are more strongly adherent than they are in cellulose, and in some species appear in the electron microscope to be joined by short crossed rod-like bodies. The orientation of the microfibrils is found to vary, ranging from a net tendency to transverse orientation through complete randomness to almost perfect longitudinal alinement. The microfibrils are negatively birefringent, so that all walls seen in optical section, and all parallel arrays of microfibrils whether in face view or in section (except strictly transverse section) are negatively birefringent. With Bryopsis , the negative birefringence in face view is overcompensated by the positive birefringence of the incrusting glucan so that the true birefringence of the crystalline polysaccharide is observed only after the glucan is removed. The X-ray diagram of parallel arrays of microfibrils as found, for instance, in Penicillus dumetosus shows that the xylan chains are helically coiled, in harmony with the negative birefringence. It is deduced that the microfibrils consist of hexagonally packed, double-stranded helices. The diameter of the helices increases with increasing relative humidity, as water is taken into the lattice, from 13.7 Å in material dried over phosphorus pentoxide to a maximum of 1.54 Å at 65 % relative humidity when the xylan contains 30 % of its weight as water. The repeat distance along the helix axis ranges from 5.85 Å (dry) to 6.06 Å (wet), the length of a half turn of each helix containing three xylose residues. The incrusting substances in these walls often include a glucan which is said also to be 1,3-linked. The significance of the extensive differences between this xylan and cellulose are examined both as regards some of the physical properties of the respective cell walls and in relation to the taxonomic position of these plants.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1703
Author(s):  
Mohamed A. Hassaan ◽  
Ahmed El Nemr ◽  
Marwa R. Elkatory ◽  
Ahmed Eleryan ◽  
Safaa Ragab ◽  
...  

One of the dominant species of green algae growing along the Mediterranean coast of Egypt is Ulva lactuca. Pretreatment can have a major effect on biogas production because hydrolysis of the algae cell wall structure is a rate-limiting stage in the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. The use of ozone, a new pretreatment, to boost biogas production from the green algae Ulva lactuca was investigated in this study. Ozonation at various dosages was used in contrast to untreated biomass, and the effect on the performance of subsequent mesophilic AD using two separate inoculums (cow manure and activated sludge) was examined. The findings indicated that, in different studies, ozonation pretreatment showed a substantial increase in biogas yield relative to untreated algae. With an ozone dose of 249 mg O3 g–1 VS algal for Ulva lactuca, the highest biogas output (498.75 mL/g VS) was achieved using cow manure inoculum. The evaluation of FTIR, TGA, SEM, and XRD revealed the impact of O3 on the structure of the algal cell wall and integrity breakage, which was thus established as the main contributor to improving the biogas production.


Author(s):  
A. E. Hotchkiss ◽  
A. T. Hotchkiss ◽  
R. P. Apkarian

Multicellular green algae may be an ancestral form of the vascular plants. These algae exhibit cell wall structure, chlorophyll pigmentation, and physiological processes similar to those of higher plants. The presence of a vascular system which provides water, minerals, and nutrients to remote tissues in higher plants was believed unnecessary for the algae. Among the green algae, the Chaetophorales are complex highly branched forms that might require some means of nutrient transport. The Chaetophorales do possess apical meristematic groups of cells that have growth orientations suggestive of stem and root positions. Branches of Chaetophora incressata were examined by the scanning electron microscope (SEM) for ultrastructural evidence of pro-vascular transport.


Author(s):  
Béatrice Satiat-Jeunemaitre ◽  
Chris Hawes

The comprehension of the molecular architecture of plant cell walls is one of the best examples in cell biology which illustrates how developments in microscopy have extended the frontiers of a topic. Indeed from the first electron microscope observation of cell walls it has become apparent that our understanding of wall structure has advanced hand in hand with improvements in the technology of specimen preparation for electron microscopy. Cell walls are sub-cellular compartments outside the peripheral plasma membrane, the construction of which depends on a complex cellular biosynthetic and secretory activity (1). They are composed of interwoven polymers, synthesised independently, which together perform a number of varied functions. Biochemical studies have provided us with much data on the varied molecular composition of plant cell walls. However, the detailed intermolecular relationships and the three dimensional arrangement of the polymers in situ remains a mystery. The difficulty in establishing a general molecular model for plant cell walls is also complicated by the vast diversity in wall composition among plant species.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Dalgaard Mikkelsen ◽  
Jesper Harholt ◽  
Bjørge Westereng ◽  
David Domozych ◽  
Stephen C. Fry ◽  
...  

AbstractThe charophycean green algae (CGA or basal streptophytes) are of particular evolutionary significance because their ancestors gave rise to land plants. One outstanding feature of these algae is that their cell walls exhibit remarkable similarities to those of land plants. Xyloglucan (XyG) is a major structural component of the cell walls of most land plants and was originally thought to be absent in CGA. This study presents evidence that XyG evolved in the CGA. This is based on a) the identification of orthologs of the genetic machinery to produce XyG, b) the identification of XyG in a range of CGA and, c) the structural elucidation of XyG, including uronic acid-containing XyG, in selected CGA. Most notably, XyG fucosylation, a feature considered as a late evolutionary elaboration of the basic XyG structure and orthologs to the corresponding biosynthetic enzymes are shown to be present in Mesotaenium caldariorum.


2017 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 195-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haipeng Guo ◽  
Houming Chen ◽  
Lu Fan ◽  
Andrew Linklater ◽  
Bingsong Zheng ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 218 (4) ◽  
pp. 1408-1421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohui Liu ◽  
Jiazhou Li ◽  
Heyu Zhao ◽  
Boyang Liu ◽  
Thomas Günther-Pomorski ◽  
...  

Even though cell walls have essential functions for bacteria, fungi, and plants, tools to investigate their dynamic structure in living cells have been missing. Here, it is shown that changes in the intensity of the plasma membrane dye FM4-64 in response to extracellular quenchers depend on the nano-scale porosity of cell walls. The correlation of quenching efficiency and cell wall porosity is supported by tests on various cell types, application of differently sized quenchers, and comparison of results with confocal, electron, and atomic force microscopy images. The quenching assay was used to investigate how changes in cell wall porosity affect the capability for extension growth in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Results suggest that increased porosity is not a precondition but a result of cell extension, thereby providing new insight on the mechanism plant organ growth. Furthermore, it was shown that higher cell wall porosity can facilitate the action of antifungal drugs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, presumably by facilitating uptake.


1986 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Starý ◽  
K. Kratzer ◽  
J. Prášilová
Keyword(s):  

Fibers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Goudenhooft ◽  
David Siniscalco ◽  
Olivier Arnould ◽  
Alain Bourmaud ◽  
Olivier Sire ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 200 (15) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher H. Corzett ◽  
Joseph Elsherbini ◽  
Diana M. Chien ◽  
Jan-Hendrik Hehemann ◽  
Andreas Henschel ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT While most Vibrionaceae are considered generalists that thrive on diverse substrates, including animal-derived material, we show that Vibrio breoganii has specialized for the consumption of marine macroalga-derived substrates. Genomic and physiological comparisons of V. breoganii with other Vibrionaceae isolates revealed the ability to degrade alginate, laminarin, and additional glycans present in algal cell walls. Moreover, the widely conserved ability to hydrolyze animal-derived polymers, including chitin and glycogen, was lost, along with the ability to efficiently grow on a variety of amino acids. Ecological data showing associations with particulate algal material but not zooplankton further support this shift in niche preference, and the loss of motility appears to reflect a sessile macroalga-associated lifestyle. Together, these findings indicate that algal polysaccharides have become a major source of carbon and energy in V. breoganii, and these ecophysiological adaptations may facilitate transient commensal associations with marine invertebrates that feed on algae. IMPORTANCE Vibrios are often considered animal specialists or generalists. Here, we show that Vibrio breoganii has undergone massive genomic changes to become specialized on algal carbohydrates. Accompanying genomic changes include massive gene import and loss. These vibrios may help us better understand how algal biomass is degraded in the environment and may serve as a blueprint on how to optimize the conversion of algae to biofuels.


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