scholarly journals The Inducible Accumulation of Cell Wall-Bound p-Hydroxybenzoates Is Involved in the Regulation of Gravitropic Response of Poplar

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunjun Zhao ◽  
Xiao-Hong Yu ◽  
Chang-Jun Liu

Lignin in Populus species is acylated with p-hydroxybenzoate. Monolignol p-hydroxybenzoyltransferase 1 (PHBMT1) mediates p-hydroxybenzoylation of sinapyl alcohol, eventually leading to the modification of syringyl lignin subunits. Angiosperm trees upon gravistimulation undergo the re-orientation of their growth along with the production of specialized secondary xylem, i.e., tension wood (TW), that generates tensile force to pull the inclined stem or leaning branch upward. Sporadic evidence suggests that angiosperm TW contains relatively a high percentage of syringyl lignin and lignin-bound p-hydroxybenzoate. However, whether such lignin modification plays a role in gravitropic response remains unclear. By imposing mechanical bending and/or gravitropic stimuli to the hybrid aspens in the wild type (WT), lignin p-hydroxybenzoate deficient, and p-hydroxybenzoate overproduction plants, we examined the responses of plants to gravitropic/mechanical stress and their cell wall composition changes. We revealed that mechanical bending or gravitropic stimulation not only induced the overproduction of crystalline cellulose fibers and increased the relative abundance of syringyl lignin, but also significantly induced the expression of PHBMT1 and the increased accumulation of p-hydroxybenzoates in TW. Furthermore, we found that although disturbing lignin-bound p-hydroxybenzoate accumulation in the PHBMT1 knockout and overexpression (OE) poplars did not affect the major chemical composition shifts of the cell walls in their TW as occurred in the WT plants, depletion of p-hydroxybenzoates intensified the gravitropic curving of the plantlets in response to gravistimulation, evident with the enhanced stem secant bending angle. By contrast, hyperaccumulation of p-hydroxybenzoates mitigated gravitropic response. These data suggest that PHBMT1-mediated lignin modification is involved in the regulation of poplar gravitropic response and, likely by compromising gravitropism and/or enhancing autotropism, negatively coordinates the action of TW cellulose fibers to control the poplar wood deformation and plant growth.

Author(s):  
S. E. Keckler ◽  
D. M. Dabbs ◽  
N. Yao ◽  
I. A. Aksay

Cellular organic structures such as wood can be used as scaffolds for the synthesis of complex structures of organic/ceramic nanocomposites. The wood cell is a fiber-reinforced resin composite of cellulose fibers in a lignin matrix. A single cell wall, containing several layers of different fiber orientations and lignin content, is separated from its neighboring wall by the middle lamella, a lignin-rich region. In order to achieve total mineralization, deposition on and in the cell wall must be achieved. Geological fossilization of wood occurs as permineralization (filling the void spaces with mineral) and petrifaction (mineralizing the cell wall as the organic component decays) through infiltration of wood with inorganics after growth. Conversely, living plants can incorporate inorganics into their cells and in some cases into the cell walls during growth. In a recent study, we mimicked geological fossilization by infiltrating inorganic precursors into wood cells in order to enhance the properties of wood. In the current work, we use electron microscopy to examine the structure of silica formed in the cell walls after infiltration of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS).


2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1475-1485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanyanuch Kriangkripipat ◽  
Michelle Momany

ABSTRACT Protein O-mannosyltransferases (Pmts) initiate O-mannosyl glycan biosynthesis from Ser and Thr residues of target proteins. Fungal Pmts are divided into three subfamilies, Pmt1, -2, and -4. Aspergillus nidulans possesses a single representative of each Pmt subfamily, pmtA (subfamily 2), pmtB (subfamily 1), and pmtC (subfamily 4). In this work, we show that single Δpmt mutants are viable and have unique phenotypes and that the ΔpmtA ΔpmtB double mutant is the only viable double mutant. This makes A. nidulans the first fungus in which all members of individual Pmt subfamilies can be deleted without loss of viability. At elevated temperatures, all A. nidulans Δpmt mutants show cell wall-associated defects and increased sensitivity to cell wall-perturbing agents. The Δpmt mutants also show defects in developmental patterning. Germ tube emergence is early in ΔpmtA and more frequent in ΔpmtC mutants than in the wild type. In ΔpmtB mutants, intrahyphal hyphae develop. All Δpmt mutants show distinct conidiophore defects. The ΔpmtA strain has swollen vesicles and conidiogenous cells, the ΔpmtB strain has swollen conidiophore stalks, and the ΔpmtC strain has dramatically elongated conidiophore stalks. We also show that AN5660, an ortholog of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Wsc1p, is modified by PmtA and PmtC. The Δpmt phenotypes at elevated temperatures, increased sensitivity to cell wall-perturbing agents and restoration to wild-type growth with osmoticum suggest that A. nidulans Pmts modify proteins in the cell wall integrity pathway. The altered developmental patterns in Δpmt mutants suggest that A. nidulans Pmts modify proteins that serve as spatial cues.


1972 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 909-915 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Singh ◽  
K.-J. Cheng ◽  
J. W. Costerton ◽  
E. S. Idziak ◽  
J. M. Ingram

The site of the cell barrier to actinomycin-D uptake was studied using a wild-type Escherichia coli strain P and its cell envelope-defective filamentous mutants, strains 6γ and 12γ, both of which 'leak' β-galactosidase and alkaline phosphatase into the medium during growth indicating both membrane and cell-wall defects. Actinomycin-D entered the cells of these two mutant strains as evidenced by the inhibition of both 14C-uracil incorporation and synthesis of the induced β-galactosidase system. Under similar conditions, no inhibition occurred in the wild-type strain and its sucrose-lysozyme prepared spheroplasts. Actinomycin-D did, however, inhibit the above-mentioned systems in the wild-type sucrose-lysozyme spheroplasts prepared in the presence of 2 mM EDTA. The experimental data indicate that although the cell wall may act as a primary barrier or sieve to actinomycin-D, the cytoplasmic membrane should be considered the final and determinative barrier to this antibiotic.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhargava Nemmaru ◽  
Jenna Douglass ◽  
John M Yarbrough ◽  
Antonio De Chellis ◽  
Srivatsan Shankar ◽  
...  

Non-productive adsorption of cellulolytic enzymes to various plant cell wall components, such as lignin and cellulose, necessitates high enzyme loadings to achieve efficient conversion of pretreated lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars. Carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs), appended to various catalytic domains (CDs), promote lignocellulose deconstruction by increasing targeted substrate-bound CD concentration but often at the cost of increased non-productive enzyme binding. Here, we demonstrate how a computational protein design strategy can be applied to a model endocellulase enzyme (Cel5A) from Thermobifida fusca to allow fine-tuning its CBM surface charge, which led to increased hydrolytic activity towards pretreated lignocellulosic biomass (e.g., corn stover) by up to ~330% versus the wild-type Cel5A control. We established that the mechanistic basis for this improvement arises from reduced non-productive binding of supercharged Cel5A mutants to cell wall components such as crystalline cellulose (up to 1.7-fold) and lignin (up to 1.8-fold). Interestingly, supercharged Cel5A mutants that showed improved activity on various forms of pretreated corn stover showed increased reversible binding to lignin (up to 2.2-fold) while showing no change in overall thermal stability remarkably. In general, negative supercharging led to increase hydrolytic activity towards both pretreated lignocellulosic biomass and crystalline cellulose whereas positive supercharging led to a reduction of hydrolytic activity. Overall, selective supercharging of protein surfaces was shown to be an effective strategy for improving hydrolytic performance of cellulolytic enzymes for saccharification of real-world pretreated lignocellulosic biomass substrates. Future work should address the implications of supercharging cellulases from various families on inter-enzyme interactions and synergism.


IAWA Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 820-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Guo ◽  
Lin Xiao ◽  
Liuyang Han ◽  
Hao Wu ◽  
Tao Yang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The relationship between the cell wall ultrastructure of waterlogged wooden archeological artifacts and the state of water bound to cell walls and free in voids is fundamental to develop consolidating and drying technologies. Herein, a lacquer-wooden ware and a boat-coffin dating 4th century BC were selected as representative artifacts to study. Wood anatomy results indicated that they belonged to Idesia sp. and Machilus sp., respectively. They exhibited a typical spongy texture, as revealed by SEM observations, and their water contents had increased significantly. Solid state NMR, Py-GC/MS, imaging FTIR microscopy and 2D-XRD results demonstrated that the deterioration resulted from the partial cleavages of both polysaccharide backbones and cellulose hydrogen-bonding networks, almost complete elimination of acetyl side chains of hemicellulose, the partial depletion of β-O-4 interlinks, as well as oxidation and demethylation/demethoxylation of lignin. These further caused the disoriented arrangement of crystalline cellulose, and the decrease in cellulose crystallite dimensions and crystallinity. In consequence, mesopores and macropores formed, and the number of moisture-adsorbed sites and their accessibility increased. Moreover, results on free water deduced by the changes of pore structure and the maximum monolayer water capacity achieved by the GAB model indicated that water in waterlogged archeological wooden artifacts was mainly free water in mesopores.


2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (10) ◽  
pp. 2982-2994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoran Xin ◽  
Lei Lei ◽  
Yunzhen Zheng ◽  
Tian Zhang ◽  
Sai Venkatesh Pingali ◽  
...  

Abstract Auxin-induced cell elongation relies in part on the acidification of the cell wall, a process known as acid growth that presumably triggers expansin-mediated wall loosening via altered interactions between cellulose microfibrils. Cellulose microfibrils are a major determinant for anisotropic growth and they provide the scaffold for cell wall assembly. Little is known about how acid growth depends on cell wall architecture. To explore the relationship between acid growth-mediated cell elongation and plant cell wall architecture, two mutants (jia1-1 and csi1-3) that are defective in cellulose biosynthesis and cellulose microfibril organization were analyzed. The study revealed that cell elongation is dependent on CSI1-mediated cell wall architecture but not on the overall crystalline cellulose content. We observed a correlation between loss of crossed-polylamellate walls and loss of auxin- and fusicoccin-induced cell growth in csi1-3. Furthermore, induced loss of crossed-polylamellate walls via disruption of cortical microtubules mimics the effect of csi1 in acid growth. We hypothesize that CSI1- and microtubule-dependent crossed-polylamellate walls are required for acid growth in Arabidopsis hypocotyls.


IAWA Journal ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens M. Altaner ◽  
Michael C. Jarvis ◽  
Jack B. Fisher ◽  
Thomas E. Marler

The molecular structure of tracheid walls of an inclined eccentrically grown stem of Cycas micronesica K.D. Hill did not differ between the upper and lower side. The absence the typical molecular features of compression wood tracheids, i.e. an increased galactose and lignin content as well as an increased microfibril angle, indicated that cycads do not have the ability to form even very mild forms of compression wood, which lacks anatomical features commonly observed in compression wood. Analysis of the sugar monomers in Cycas micronesica tracheids did reveal a rather unique composition of the non-cellulosic polysaccharides for a gymnosperm. The low mannose and high xylose content resembled a cell wall matrix common in angiosperms. The crystalline cellulose structure in Cycas micronesica tracheids closely resembled those of secondary cell walls in Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr. tracheids. However, the spacing between the sheets of cellulose chains was wider and the cellulose fibrils appeared to form larger aggregates than in Sitka spruce tracheids.


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