Pectic polysaccharides of growing plant tissues

Abstract

The polysaccharide compositions of the cell walls of sycamore [Acer pseudoplatanus] cambium and sycamore callus tissue have been analyzed and found to be directly comparable. Electrophoretic analyses of the whole pectins prepared from actively growing callus and cambial tissue have shown that these preparations contain, in addition to the neutral and weakly acidic components present in apple fruit, a strongly acidic polygalacturonic acid component. The weakly acidic component of all the pectins was directly comparable with that of the pectinic acid of apple fruit. The components of the whole pectin of sycamore callus tissue have been partially purified and analyzed. The neutral and weakly acidic components also found in apple fruit were isolated. The pattern of the composition of the neutral sugars present in the pectins of actively growing tissues of cambium and callus has been compared with those present in apple-fruit pectinic acid. The presence of rhamnose linked as galacturonosyl-(1[forward arrow]2) rhamnose has been found in sycamore whole pectin. The difference in the pectins of callus, cambium and fruit appears not to be that of species difference but is more characteristic of the nature of the growth and growth conditions of the cells. This is discussed in relation to the problems of the control and mechanism of plant-cell growth and differentiation.