Cell Wall Biogenesis - Essay Example

The wall consists of complex mixture of polysaccharides and polymers that secret the cell through a network of bonds. The plant cell walls also have enzymes, natural proteins, and phenol polymers that modify the chemical and physical properties (Carpita 445) Different plants contain unique chemical composition and structures while all have the same role of regulating the cell and providing it with a shape. The plant cells acquire biological and diverse functions crucial in human economics. In its natural form, the plant cell wall has the following commercial purposes textiles, paper, charcoal, wood products, and fibers.

One can modify polysaccharides to make adhesives, thickeners, films, coatings, plastics, and gels ( Taiz and Eduardo 45). The primary cell wall has cellulose micro fibrils embedded in polysaccharide matrix. The matrix polysaccharides contain pectin, and hemicelluloses. Some of the pectin contained includes Arabinan, homogalacturonan, and galactan. Some of the hemicelluloses include xylan, callose, and xyglucan. The hydrated matrix has both flexibility and strength. The cell walls have two groups of polysaccharides called hemicelluloses and pectin and few amounts of structural protein.

The polysaccharides matrix consists of wide array of polymers that vary according to cell type and plant species. A schematic diagram of major structural components of primary cell wall depicts cellulose micro fibrils with xyloglucan coatings that may cross-links to each other (Loewus 18). All the polysaccharides have their names after principal sugars for instance glucan polymer consists of glucose, xylan consists of xylose, and galactan consists of glucose. A compound name for the hemicelluloses does not mean a branched structure.

Xyloglucan contain a chain of glucose residues with xylose sugars on the side chains. Glucomannan is a polymer that contains glucose and mannose. Loewus (4) says that