𝔖 Bobbio Scriptorium
✦   LIBER   ✦

In-situ Raman microprobe studies of plant cell walls: Macromolecular organization and compositional variability in the secondary wall ofPicea mariana(Mill.) B.S.P.

✍ Scribed by U. P. Agarwal; R. H. Atalla


Book ID
104752877
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Year
1986
Tongue
English
Weight
873 KB
Volume
169
Category
Article
ISSN
0032-0935

No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.

✦ Synopsis


Native-state organization and distribution of cell-wall components in the secondary wall of woody tissue from P. mariana (Black Spruce) have been investigated using polarized Raman microspectroscopy. Evidence for orientation is detected through Raman intensity variations resulting from rotations of the exciting electric vector with respect to cell-wall geometry. Spectral features associated with cellulose and lignin were studied. The changes in cellulose bands indicate that the pyranose rings of the anhydroglucose repeat units are in planes perpendicular to the cross section, while methine C-H bonds are in planes parallel to the cross section. Changes in bands associated with lignin indicate that the aromatic rings of the phenyl-propane units are most often in the plane of the cell-wall surface. However, regions where lignin orientation departs from this pattern also occur. These results represent direct evidence of molecular organization with respect to cellular morphological features in woody tissue, and indicate that cell-wall components are more highly organized than had been recognized. Studies carried out in order to establish the usefulness and sensitivity of the Raman technique to differences of composition within the cell walls provide evidence of variations in the distribution of cellulose and lignin. Such compositional differences were more prominent between the walls of different cells than within a particular cell wall.