Ultrastructure of iodine treated wood

Holzforschung ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Donaldson ◽  
A. Frankland
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Cell Walls ◽  
Treated Wood ◽  
Cellulose Microfibrils ◽  
Adjacent Cell ◽  
Staining Reaction ◽  
Exact Nature ◽  
Iodine Staining ◽  
Reflectance Microscopy ◽  
Random Nature

Abstract Iodine staining has been used to study the orientation of cellulose microfibrils in wood using light microscopy. The aim of this work was to understand the exact nature of the staining reaction with iodine and to provide insight into the properties and organisation of the wood cell wall. Based on transmission electron microscopy it is apparent that precipitation of the iodine following treatment with nitric acid results in the formation of crystal cavities within the cell wall, which follow the orientation of the cellulose microfibrils. There is no evidence that iodine precipitates within “drying checks” as previously speculated. High resolution confocal reflectance microscopy of crystal cavity orientation indicates that the microfibril arrangement within pit borders can be both spiral and circular. Crystal cavities are much more abundant within the S1 layer than elsewhere. All of the cells examined had crystal cavities in the S1 region, which may be related to the reduced lignification at the S1/S2 boundary resulting in greater porosity of the cell wall at this location. Within the S2 region, clusters of crystal cavities are randomly distributed and occur in widely varying numbers among adjacent cell walls, suggesting variations in the porosity of the S2 wall within and among adjacent tracheids. Cavities form preferentially within more electron lucent regions of the cell wall. The random nature of crystal cavity formation within S2 clusters probably reflects the underlying random nature of the cell wall nanostructure. We conclude that iodine staining can provide important clues to the nanostructural properties of tracheid cell walls.

The preprophase band: possible involvement in the formation of the cell wall

1976 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 403-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.J. Packard ◽  
S.M. Stack
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Allium Cepa ◽  
Cell Walls ◽  
Preprophase Band ◽  
Adjacent Cell ◽  
Root Tips ◽  
Meristematic Cells ◽  
Narrow Region ◽  
The Matrix

Numerous vesicles were observed among the microtubules of the “preprophase” band in prophase cells from root tips of Allium cepa. The content of these vesicles looks similar to the matrix of adjacent cell walls, and these vesicles often appear to be involved in exocytosis. In addition, the cell walls perpendicular to the plane of (beneath) the preprophase band are often differentially thickened compared to the walls lying parallel to the plane of the band. Our interpretation of these observations is that the preprophase band may direct or channel vesicles containing precursors of the cell wall to localized regions of wall synthesis. The incorporation of constituents of the cell wall into a narrow region defined by the position of the preprophase band may be a mechanism that ensures unidirecitonal growth of meristematic cells.

High-Resolution Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) Imaging of Cellulose Microfibril Organization in Plant Primary Cell Walls

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1048-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunzhen Zheng ◽  
Daniel J. Cosgrove ◽  
Gang Ning
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopy ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Field Emission ◽  
Cell Walls ◽  
Cellulose Microfibrils ◽  
Critical Point Drying ◽  
Sputter Coating ◽  
Scanning Electron

AbstractWe have used field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) to study the high-resolution organization of cellulose microfibrils in onion epidermal cell walls. We frequently found that conventional “rule of thumb” conditions for imaging of biological samples did not yield high-resolution images of cellulose organization and often resulted in artifacts or distortions of cell wall structure. Here we detail our method of one-step fixation and dehydration with 100% ethanol, followed by critical point drying, ultrathin iridium (Ir) sputter coating (3 s), and FESEM imaging at a moderate accelerating voltage (10 kV) with an In-lens detector. We compare results obtained with our improved protocol with images obtained with samples processed by conventional aldehyde fixation, graded dehydration, sputter coating with Au, Au/Pd, or carbon, and low-voltage FESEM imaging. The results demonstrated that our protocol is simpler, causes little artifact, and is more suitable for high-resolution imaging of cell wall cellulose microfibrils whereas such imaging is very challenging by conventional methods.

Microdistribution of copper in copper-ethanolamine (Cu-EA) treated southern yellow pine (Pinus spp.) related to density distribution

Holzforschung ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinzhen Cao ◽  
D. Pascal Kamdem
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Density Distribution ◽  
Cell Walls ◽  
Middle Lamella ◽  
Treated Wood ◽  
Yellow Pine ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Pinus Spp ◽  
Southern Yellow Pine ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The relationship between copper absorption and density distribution in wood cell walls was investigated in this study. The density distribution on layer level was obtained from two approaches: (1) calculation by using data obtained from literature; (2) microdistribution of carbon and oxygen atoms in the wood cell. The microdistribution of carbon and oxygen in untreated southern yellow pine (Pinus spp.) sapwood, as well as copper in cell walls of copper-ethanolamine (Cu-EA) treated wood was determined by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDXA). Both approaches for density distribution led to the same result: the density was higher in the compound middle lamella and cell corners than in the secondary wall. The concentration/intensity of Cu, C and O in the cell wall follow the same trend as the density distribution; suggesting that density may play a major role in SEM-EDXA study of the distribution of metal-containing wood preservatives within the wood cell wall.

scholarly journals Cellulose synthase complexes act in a concerted fashion to synthesize highly aggregated cellulose in secondary cell walls of plants

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (40) ◽  
pp. 11348-11353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shundai Li ◽  
Logan Bashline ◽  
Yunzhen Zheng ◽  
Xiaoran Xin ◽  
Shixin Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Cell Walls ◽  
Plant Cell Wall ◽  
Cellulose Synthase ◽  
Cellulose Microfibrils ◽  
Critical Component ◽  
Distinct Structure ◽  
Secondary Cell Walls ◽  
Composition Structure ◽  
Membrane Spanning

Cellulose, often touted as the most abundant biopolymer on Earth, is a critical component of the plant cell wall and is synthesized by plasma membrane-spanning cellulose synthase (CESA) enzymes, which in plants are organized into rosette-like CESA complexes (CSCs). Plants construct two types of cell walls, primary cell walls (PCWs) and secondary cell walls (SCWs), which differ in composition, structure, and purpose. Cellulose in PCWs and SCWs is chemically identical but has different physical characteristics. During PCW synthesis, multiple dispersed CSCs move along a shared linear track in opposing directions while synthesizing cellulose microfibrils with low aggregation. In contrast, during SCW synthesis, we observed swaths of densely arranged CSCs that moved in the same direction along tracks while synthesizing cellulose microfibrils that became highly aggregated. Our data support a model in which distinct spatiotemporal features of active CSCs during PCW and SCW synthesis contribute to the formation of cellulose with distinct structure and organization in PCWs and SCWs of Arabidopsis thaliana. This study provides a foundation for understanding differences in the formation, structure, and organization of cellulose in PCWs and SCWs.

scholarly journals Cell wall composition determines handedness reversal in helicoidal cellulose architectures of Pollia condensata fruits

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (51) ◽  
pp. e2111723118
Author(s):  
Yin Chang ◽  
Rox Middleton ◽  
Yu Ogawa ◽  
Tom Gregory ◽  
Lisa M. Steiner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Cell Walls ◽  
Hierarchical Structures ◽  
Cell Wall Composition ◽  
Cellulose Microfibrils ◽  
Plant Cell Walls ◽  
Mechanical Responses ◽  
Structural Colors ◽  
Left Handed ◽  
Helicoidal Structure

Chiral asymmetry is important in a wide variety of disciplines and occurs across length scales. While several natural chiral biomolecules exist only with single handedness, they can produce complex hierarchical structures with opposite chiralities. Understanding how the handedness is transferred from molecular to the macroscopic scales is far from trivial. An intriguing example is the transfer of the handedness of helicoidal organizations of cellulose microfibrils in plant cell walls. These cellulose helicoids produce structural colors if their dimension is comparable to the wavelength of visible light. All previously reported examples of a helicoidal structure in plants are left-handed except, remarkably, in the Pollia condensata fruit; both left- and right-handed helicoidal cell walls are found in neighboring cells of the same tissue. By simultaneously studying optical and mechanical responses of cells with different handednesses, we propose that the chirality of helicoids results from differences in cell wall composition. In detail, here we showed statistical substantiation of three different observations: 1) light reflected from right-handed cells is red shifted compared to light reflected from left-handed cells, 2) right-handed cells occur more rarely than left-handed ones, and 3) right-handed cells are located mainly in regions corresponding to interlocular divisions. Finally, 4) right-handed cells have an average lower elastic modulus compared to left-handed cells of the same color. Our findings, combined with mechanical simulation, suggest that the different chiralities of helicoids in the cell wall may result from different chemical composition, which strengthens previous hypotheses that hemicellulose might mediate the rotations of cellulose microfibrils.

scholarly journals Overexpression of the rice BAHD acyltransferase AT10 increases xylan-bound p-coumarate and reduces lignin in Sorghum bicolor

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Tian ◽  
Chien-Yuan Lin ◽  
Joon-Hyun Park ◽  
Chuan-Yin Wu ◽  
Ramu Kakumanu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Sorghum Bicolor ◽  
Cell Walls ◽  
Lignin Content ◽  
Complex Structure ◽  
Enzymatic Saccharification ◽  
Cellulose Microfibrils ◽  
Biomass Composition ◽  
Bioenergy Crops ◽  
Transgenic Lines

Abstract Background The development of bioenergy crops with reduced recalcitrance to enzymatic degradation represents an important challenge to enable the sustainable production of advanced biofuels and bioproducts. Biomass recalcitrance is partly attributed to the complex structure of plant cell walls inside which cellulose microfibrils are protected by a network of hemicellulosic xylan chains that crosslink with each other or with lignin via ferulate (FA) bridges. Overexpression of the rice acyltransferase OsAT10 is an effective bioengineering strategy to lower the amount of FA involved in the formation of cell wall crosslinks and thereby reduce cell wall recalcitrance. The annual crop sorghum represents an attractive feedstock for bioenergy purposes considering its high biomass yields and low input requirements. Although we previously validated the OsAT10 engineering approach in the perennial bioenergy crop switchgrass, the effect of OsAT10 expression on biomass composition and digestibility in sorghum remains to be explored. Results We obtained eight independent sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) transgenic lines with a single copy of a construct designed for OsAT10 expression. Consistent with the proposed role of OsAT10 in acylating arabinosyl residues on xylan with p-coumarate (pCA), a higher amount of p-coumaroyl-arabinose was released from the cell walls of these lines upon hydrolysis with trifluoroacetic acid. However, no major changes were observed regarding the total amount of pCA or FA esters released from cell walls upon mild alkaline hydrolysis. Certain diferulate (diFA) isomers identified in alkaline hydrolysates were increased in some transgenic lines. The amount of the main cell wall monosaccharides glucose, xylose, and arabinose was unaffected. The transgenic lines showed reduced lignin content and their biomass released higher yields of sugars after ionic liquid pretreatment followed by enzymatic saccharification. Conclusions Expression of OsAT10 in sorghum leads to an increase of xylan-bound pCA without reducing the overall content of cell wall FA esters. Nevertheless, the amount of total cell wall pCA remains unchanged indicating that most pCA is ester-linked to lignin. Unlike other engineered plants overexpressing OsAT10 or a phylogenetically related acyltransferase with similar putative function, the improvements of biomass saccharification efficiency in sorghum OsAT10 lines are likely the result of lignin reductions rather than reductions of cell wall-bound FA. These results also suggest a relationship between xylan-bound pCA and lignification in cell walls.

scholarly journals Sorption behavior and hydroxyl accessibility of wood treated with different cyclic N-methylol compounds

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (35) ◽  
pp. 16561-16575
Author(s):  
Lukas Emmerich ◽  
Michael Altgen ◽  
Lauri Rautkari ◽  
Holger Militz
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Treated Wood ◽  
Covalent Bond ◽  
Water Vapor Sorption ◽  
Adjacent Cell ◽  
Sorption Behavior ◽  
Moisture Uptake ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Oh Groups ◽  
Dimensional Changes

Abstract Cyclic N-methylol compounds such as 1,3-dimethylol-4,5-dihydroxyethyleneurea (DMDHEU) have been used to modify wood and prevent negative effects related to the uptake of moisture. However, the changes in the sorption behavior of wood by treatments with DMDHEU and its derivatives are not fully understood. In the present study, wood blocks were treated with DMDHEU, ether-modified DMDHEU and diethyleneglycolated DMDHEU in order to study the factors that control the changes in moisture uptake in the hygroscopic range (0–95% RH). Dimensional changes of wood blocks during water soaking cycles suggested that the treatments caused a permanent cell wall bulking, whereas the swelling restraint by cross-linking of adjacent cell wall polymers was not permanent. However, the changes in water vapor sorption were not only a result of the cell wall bulking effect that reduced the space in the cell wall to accommodate water. The N-methylol compounds within the wood also provided additional sorption sites, but there was no correlation between absorbed water and accessible OH groups. It was speculated that the co-condensation of the N-methylol compounds with wood polymers had a significant effect on the sorption of the treated wood. At elevated RH, pure resins that were formed by self-condensation took up large quantities of moisture. However, when the N-methylol compounds were heat-cured within the hierarchical structure of wood, the moisture uptake of the treated wood at elevated RH was even lower compared to unmodified wood. Furthermore, the covalent bond formation between wood and resin prolonged the attainment of an equilibrium moisture content.

scholarly journals Bundling of cellulose microfibrils in native and polyethylene glycol-containing wood cell walls revealed by small-angle neutron scattering

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paavo A. Penttilä ◽  
Michael Altgen ◽  
Muhammad Awais ◽  
Monika Österberg ◽  
Lauri Rautkari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Neutron Scattering ◽  
Plant Cell ◽  
Small Angle ◽  
Cell Walls ◽  
Small Angle Neutron Scattering ◽  
Plant Cell Wall ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Cellulose Microfibrils ◽  
Wall Structure

AbstractWood and other plant-based resources provide abundant, renewable raw materials for a variety of applications. Nevertheless, their utilization would greatly benefit from more efficient and accurate methods to characterize the detailed nanoscale architecture of plant cell walls. Non-invasive techniques such as neutron and X-ray scattering hold a promise for elucidating the hierarchical cell wall structure and any changes in its morphology, but their use is hindered by challenges in interpreting the experimental data. We used small-angle neutron scattering in combination with contrast variation by poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) to identify the scattering contribution from cellulose microfibril bundles in native wood cell walls. Using this method, mean diameters for the microfibril bundles from 12 to 19 nm were determined, without the necessity of cutting, drying or freezing the cell wall. The packing distance of the individual microfibrils inside the bundles can be obtained from the same data. This finding opens up possibilities for further utilization of small-angle scattering in characterizing the plant cell wall nanostructure and its response to chemical, physical and biological modifications or even in situ treatments. Moreover, our results give new insights into the interaction between PEG and the wood nanostructure, which may be helpful for preservation of archaeological woods.

Reduced pectin content of cell walls prevents stress-induced root cell elongation in Arabidopsis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohui Liu ◽  
Huiying Cui ◽  
Bochao Zhang ◽  
Min Song ◽  
Shaolin Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Cell Elongation ◽  
Cell Walls ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Root Cell ◽  
Cellulose Microfibrils ◽  
Composition Analysis ◽  
Cellulose Content ◽  
Cell Extension ◽  
Mechanistic Basis

Abstract The primary cell walls of plants provide mechanical strength while maintaining the flexibility needed for cell extension growth. Cell extension involves loosening the bonds between cellulose microfibrils, hemicelluloses and pectins. Pectins have been implicated in this process, but it remains unclear if this depends on the abundance of certain pectins, their modifications, and/or structure. Here, cell wall-related mutants of the model plant Arabidopsis were characterized by biochemical and immunohistochemical methods and Fourier-transform infrared microspectroscopy. Mutants with reduced pectin or hemicellulose content showed no root cell elongation in response to simulated drought stress, in contrast to wild-type plants or mutants with reduced cellulose content. While no association was found between the degrees of pectin methylesterification and cell elongation, cell wall composition analysis suggested an important role of the pectin rhamnogalacturonan II (RGII), which was corroborated in experiments with the RGII-modifying chemical 2β-deoxy-Kdo. The results were complemented by expression analysis of cell wall synthesis genes and microscopic analysis of cell wall porosity. It is concluded that a certain amount of pectin is necessary for stress-induced root cell elongation, and hypotheses regarding the mechanistic basis of this result are formulated.

scholarly journals Anatomical structure overrides temperature controls on magnesium uptake – calcification in the Arctic/subarctic coralline algae <i>Leptophytum laeve</i> and <i>Kvaleya epilaeve</i> (Rhodophyta; Corallinales)

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 781-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merinda C. Nash ◽  
Walter Adey
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Cell Walls ◽  
Magnesium Content ◽  
Coralline Algae ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Wall Structure ◽  
Adjacent Cell ◽  
Coralline Red Algae ◽  
Primary Basis ◽  
Mg Content

Abstract. Calcified coralline red algae are ecologically key organisms in photic benthic environments. In recent decades they have become important climate proxies, especially in the Arctic and subarctic. It has been widely accepted that magnesium content in coralline tissues is directly a function of ambient temperature, and this is a primary basis for their value as a climate archive. In this paper we show for two genera of Arctic/subarctic corallines, Leptophytum laeve and Kvaleya epilaeve, that previously unrecognised complex tissue and cell wall anatomy bears a variety of basal signatures for Mg content, with the accepted temperature relationship being secondary. The interfilament carbonate has lower Mg than adjacent cell walls and the hypothallial cell walls have the highest Mg content. The internal structure of the hypothallial cell walls can differ substantially from the perithallial radial cell wall structure. Using high-magnification scanning electron microscopy and etching we expose the nanometre-scale structures within the cell walls and interfilament. Fibrils concentrate at the internal and external edges of the cell walls. Fibrils ∼ 10 nm thick appear to thread through the radial Mg-calcite grains and form concentric bands within the cell wall. This banding may control Mg distribution within the cell. Similar fibril banding is present in the hypothallial cell walls but not the interfilament. Climate archiving with corallines can achieve greater precision with recognition of these parameters.

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