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Formation of Plant Cell Wall Polysaccharides

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Abstract

The study of plant cell wall formation has led to investigations of polysaccharide biosynthesis in cell-free systems1–8. Those systems which have been studied have certain common properties: they are all particulate enzymes; they are all relatively unstable; and those for which the specificity of the substrate has been determined are known to utilize a single sugar nucleotide2,5,7. Detailed characteristics have been reported in some cases5,8, but there is little information which serves to organize these data into a working hypothesis concerning the mechanism of cell wall formation. This report supports the hypothesis9 that the various polysaccharide-synthesizing enzymes originate from a single type of organelle. Furthermore, sedimentation properties suggest that this organelle is the plasma membrane.

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Author notes

  1. C. L. VILLEMEZ

    Present address: Department of Chemistry, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, 45701, USA

  2. J. M. MCNAB

    Present address: Department of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

    C. L. VILLEMEZ, J. M. MCNAB & P. ALBERSHEIM

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  1. C. L. VILLEMEZ
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  2. J. M. MCNAB
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  3. P. ALBERSHEIM
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VILLEMEZ, C., MCNAB, J. & ALBERSHEIM, P. Formation of Plant Cell Wall Polysaccharides. Nature 218, 878–880 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/218878a0

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