Nanoscale movements of cellulose microfibrils in primary cell walls.

ABSTRACT: The growing plant cell wall is commonly considered to be a fibre-reinforced structure whose strength, extensibility and anisotropy depend on the orientation of crystalline cellulose microfibrils, their bonding to the polysaccharide matrix and matrix viscoelasticity^1-4. Structural reinforcement of the wall by stiff cellulose microfibrils is central to contemporary models of plant growth, mechanics and meristem dynamics^4-12. Although passive microfibril reorientation during wall extension has been inferred from theory and from bulk measurements^13-15, nanometre-scale movements of individual microfibrils have not been directly observed. Here we combined nanometre-scale imaging of wet cell walls by atomic force microscopy (AFM) with a stretching device and endog

SUBMITTER: Zhang T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5478883 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature