Plant biomechanics and resilience to environmental changes are controlled by specific lignin chemistries in each vascular cell type and morphotype.

ABSTRACT: The biopolymer lignin is deposited in the cell walls of vascular cells and is essential for long-distance water conduction and structural support in plants. Different vascular cell types contain distinct and conserved lignin chemistries, each with specific aromatic and aliphatic substitutions. Yet, the biological role of this conserved and specific lignin chemistry in each cell type remains unclear. Here, we investigated the roles of this lignin biochemical specificity for cellular functions by producing single cell analyses for three cell morphotypes of tracheary elements, which all allow sap conduction but differ in their morphology. We determined that specific lignin chemistries accumulate in each cell type. Moreover, lignin accumulated dynamically, increasing in quantity and changing i

SUBMITTER: Menard D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9709985 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature