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Structural organization of the cell wall polymers in compression wood as revealed by FTIR microspectroscopy

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Abstract

Main conclusion

Glucomannan was more strongly oriented, in line with the orientation of cellulose, than the xylan in both compression wood and normal wood of Chinese fir. Lignin in compression wood was somewhat more oriented in the direction of the cellulose microfibrils than in normal wood.

The structural organization in compression wood (CW) is quite different from that in normal wood (NW). To shed more light on the structural organization of the polymers in plant cell walls, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) microscopy in transmission mode has been used to compare the S2-dominated mean orientation of wood polymers in CW with that in NW from Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata). Polarized FTIR measurements revealed that in both CW and NW samples, glucomannan and xylan showed a parallel orientation with respect to the cellulose microfibrils. In both wood samples, the glucomannan showed a much greater degree of orientation than the xylan, indicating that the glucomannan has established a stronger interaction with cellulose than xylan. For the lignin, the absorption peak also indicated an orientation along the direction of the cellulose microfibrils, but this orientation was more pronounced in CW than in NW, indicating that the lignin is affected by the orientation of the cellulose microfibrils more strongly in CW than it is in NW.

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Abbreviations

CCD:

Charge-coupled device

CW:

Compression wood

FTIR:

Fourier transform infrared

MFA:

Microfibril angle

NW:

Normal wood

RA:

Relative absorbance

S1 :

Secondary cell wall layer, first layer

S2 :

Secondary cell wall layer, middle layer

S3 :

Secondary cell wall layer, third layer

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

WAXS:

Wide-angle X-ray scattering

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Acknowledgements

This research was sponsored by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFD0600202). Hui Peng has a fellowship from the China Scholarship Council (CSC). The authors wish to thank Jiali Jiang (Research Institute of Wood Industry of Chinese Academy of Forestry, China) and Liang Zhou (Anhui Agricultural University, China) for providing the wood samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Wood Industry of Chinese Academy of Forestry, Hunan Collaborative Innovation Center for Effective Utilizing of Wood and Bamboo Resources, Beijing, 100091, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Peng & Jianxiong Lu

  2. RISE Bioeconomy, Box 5604, 11486, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lennart Salmén & Jasna S. Stevanic

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  1. Hui Peng
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Correspondence to Lennart Salmén or Jianxiong Lu.

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Peng, H., Salmén, L., Stevanic, J.S. et al. Structural organization of the cell wall polymers in compression wood as revealed by FTIR microspectroscopy. Planta 250, 163–171 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-019-03158-7

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