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Release of Small Polyuronides from Nitella Cell Walls during Ionic Exchange.

Mono-divalent ion exchange in isolated cell walls of Nitella flexilis (L.) Ag. induces a marked loss of wall polymers and a decrease in the wall cationic exchange capacity. These data correlate with the replacement in the walls of adsorbed Mn(2+) by Na(+) ions. Boiling wall samples in methanol for 1 h or keeping the ionic solutions chilled to 4 degrees C does not inhibit the cell wall polymer leakage but modifies the kinetics both of the ionic exchange and of the released polymers. These data are more compatible with physical rather than enzymic induced processes. The extracted polymers in the successively renewed NaCl solutions initially belong to the wall protein and pectin fractions and mainly to pectic fractions subsequently. Determination of the average degree of polymerization shows that the average molecular size of the lost acidic polysaccharides increases with extraction time up an average polymerization degree of 25. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition tests show the presence of homopolymer blocks equal to or higher than 10 in the released polymer fragments. Compositional analysis of released polysaccharides suggests that the pectin lost by action of monovalent ions was largely composed of rhamnogalacturonans whose acidic residue fraction is approximately 60% in association with galactose chains. Small quantities of glucuronylated xylans are also found.

Journal Article↗

The Tomato Fruit Cell Wall : II. Polyuronide Metabolism in a Nonsoftening Tomato Mutant.

A nonsoftening tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) variety, dg, was examined to assess the physiological basis for its inability to soften during ripening. Total uronic acid levels, 18 milligrams uronic acid/100 milligrams wall, and the extent of pectin esterification, 60 mole%, remained constant throughout fruit development in this mutant. The proportion of uronic acid susceptible to polygalacturonase in vitro also remained constant. Pretreatment of heat-inactivated dg fruit cell walls with tomato pectinmethylesterase enhances polygalacturonase susceptibility at all ripening stages. Pectinesterase activity of cell wall protein extracts from red ripe dg fruit was half that in extracts from analogous tissue of VF145B. Polygalacturonase activities of cell wall extracts, however, were similar in both varieties. Diffusion of uronic acid from tissue discs of both varieties increased beginning at the turning stage to a maximum of 2.0 milligrams uronic acid released/gram fresh weight at the ripe stage. The increased quantity of hydrolytic products released during ripening suggests the presence of in situ polygalacturonase activity. Low speed centrifugation was employed to induce efflux of uronide components from the cell wall tree space. In normal fruit, at the turning stage, 2.1 micrograms uronic acid/gram fresh weight was present in the eluant after 1 hour, and this value increased to a maximum of 8.2 micrograms uronic acid/gram fresh weight at the red ripe stage. However, centrifuge-aided extraction of hydrolytic products failed to provide evidence for in situ polygalacturonase activity in dg fruit. We conclude that pectinesterase and polygalacturonase enzymes are not active in situ during the ripening of dg fruit. This could account for the maintenance of firmness in ripe fruit tissue.

Journal Article↗

Methyl de-esterification as a major factor regulating the extent of pectin depolymerization during fruit ripening: a comparison of the action of avocado (Persea americana) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) polygalacturonases.

Pectinmethylesterase (PME, EC 3.2.1.11) and polygalacturonase (PG, EC 3.2.1.15) are known to operate in tandem to degrade methylesterified polyuronides. In this study, PGs purified from tomato and avocado fruit were compared in terms of their capacity to hydrolyze water-soluble polyuronides from avocado before and following enzymic or chemical de-esterification. When assayed using polygalacturonic acid or polyuronides from avocado fruit, the activity of PG from tomato fruit was 3-4 times higher than that from avocado fruit. High molecular mass, low methylesterified (33%) water-soluble polyuronides (WSP) from pre-ripe avocado fruit (day 0) were partially depolymerized upon incubation with purified avocado and tomato PGs. In contrast, middle molecular mass, highly methylesterified (74%) WSP from day 2 fruit were largely resistant to the action of both PGs. PME or weak alkali treatment of highly methylesterified WSP decreased the methylesterification values to 11 and 4.5%, respectively. Treatment of de-esterified WSP with either avocado or tomato PGs caused extensive molecular mass downshifts, paralleling those observed during avocado fruit ripening. Although PME and PG are found in many fruits, the pattern of depolymerization of native polyuronides indicates that the degree of cooperativity between these enzymes in vivo differs dramatically among fruits. The contribution of PME to patterns of polyuronide depolymerization observed during ripening compared with physically compromised fruit tissues is discussed.

Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases↗

Role of membranes of mycelial Mucor rouxii in synthesis and secretion of cell wall matrix polymers.

Membrane fractions of the mycelial form of Mucor rouxii contained endogenous polyuronides and glycoproteins with sugar compositions similar to the cell wall polyuronide (mucoran) and extracellular (wall and filtrate) glycoproteins, respectively. The polyuronide pool was rapidly labeled with D-[U-14C]glucose and on pulse-chase experiments appeared to turn over, suggesting that these polymers were precursors of the wall mucoran. In contrast, the glycoproteins appeared to accumulate. Although the membrane-associated glycoproteins had molecular weights similar to those of the extracellular glycoproteins, the bulk of the membrane-associated polyuronides were of a molecular weight lower than that of the wall polyuronide.

Cell Wall↗

Cell wall metabolism during maturation, ripening and senescence of peach fruit.

Cell wall changes were examined in fruit of a melting flesh peach (Prunus persica L.) allowed to ripen on the tree. Three phases to softening were noted, the first of which began prior to the completion of flesh colour change and an increase in ethylene evolution. Softening in young mature fruit, prior to ripening, was associated with a depolymerization of matrix glycans both loosely and tightly attached to cellulose and a loss of Gal from all cell wall fractions. After the initiation of ripening, but before the melting stage, softening was associated with continuing, progressive depolymerization of matrix glycans. A massive loss of Ara from the loosely bound matrix glycan fraction was observed, probably from side chains of glucuronoarabinoxylan, pectin, or possibly arabinogalactan protein firmly bound into the wall and solubilized in this extract. An increase in the solubilization of polyuronides also occurred during this period, when softening was already well advanced. The extensive softening of the melting period was marked by substantial depolymerization of both loosely and tightly bound matrix glycans, including a loss of Ara from the latter, an increase in matrix glycan extractability, and a dramatic depolymerization of chelator-soluble polyuronides which continued during senescence. Depolymerization of chelator-soluble polyuronides thus occurred substantially after the increase in their solubilization. Ripening-related increases were observed in the activities of exo- and endo-polygalacturonase (EC 3.2.1.67; EC 3.2.1.15), pectin methylesterase (EC 3.1.1.11), endo-1,4-beta-glucanase (EC 3.2.1.4), endo-1,4-beta-mannanase (EC 3.2.1.78), alpha-arabinosidase (EC 3.2.1.55), and beta-galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.23), but the timing and extent of the increases differed between enzymes and was not necessarily related to ethylene evolution. Fruit softening in peach is a continuous process and correlated closely with the depolymerization of matrix glycans, which proceeded throughout development. However, numerous other cell wall changes also took place, such as the deglycosylation of particular polymers and the solubilization and depolymerization of chelator-soluble polyuronides, but these were transient and occurred only at specific phases of the softening process. Fruit softening and other textural changes in peach appear to have a number of stages, each involving a different set of cell wall modifications.

Aging↗

Degradation of Cell Wall Polysaccharides during Tomato Fruit Ripening.

Changes in neutral sugar, uronic acid, and protein content of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) cell walls during ripening were characterized. The only components to decline in amount were galactose, arabinose, and galacturonic acid. Isolated cell walls of ripening fruit contained a water-soluble polyuronide, possibly a product of in vivo polygalacturonase action. This polyuronide and the one obtained by incubating walls from mature green fruit with tomato polygalacturonase contained relatively much less neutral sugar than did intact cell walls. The ripening-related decline in galactose and arabinose content appeared to be separate from polyuronide solubilization. In the rin mutant, the postharvest loss of these neutral sugars occurred in the absence of polygalacturonase and polyuronide solubilization. The enzyme(s) responsible for the removal of galactose and arabinose was not identified; a tomato cell wall polysaccharide containing galactose and arabinose (6:1) was not hydrolyzed by tomato beta-galactosidase.

Journal Article↗

Molecular size and separability features of pea cell wall polysaccharides : implications for models of primary wall structure.

Relative molecular size distributions of pectic and hemicellulosic polysaccharides of pea (Pisum sativum cv Alaska) third internode primary walls were determined by gel filtration chromatography. Pectic polyuronides have a peak molecular mass of about 1100 kilodaltons, relative to dextran standards. This peak may be partly an aggregate of smaller molecular units, because demonstrable aggregation occurred when samples were concentrated by evaporation. About 86% of the neutral sugars (mostly arabinose and galactose) in the pectin cofractionate with polyuronide in gel filtration chromatography and diethylaminoethyl-cellulose chromatography and appear to be attached covalently to polyuronide chains, probably as constituents of rhamnogalacturonans. However, at least 60% of the wall's arabinan/galactan is not linked covalently to the bulk of its rhamnogalacturonan, either glycosidically or by ester links, but occurs in the hemicellulose fraction, accompanied by negligible uronic acid, and has a peak molecular mass of about 1000 kilodaltons. Xyloglucan, the other principal hemicellulosic polymer, has a peak molecular mass of about 30 kilodaltons (with a secondary, usually minor, peak of approximately 300 kilodaltons) and is mostly not linked glycosidically either to pectic polyuronides or to arabinogalactan. The relatively narrow molecular mass distributions of these polymers suggest mechanisms of co- or postsynthetic control of hemicellulose chain length by the cell. Although the macromolecular features of the mentioned polymers individually agree generally with those shown in the widely disseminated sycamore cell primary wall model, the matrix polymers seem to be associated mostly noncovalently rather than in the covalently interlinked meshwork postulated by that model. Xyloglucan and arabinan/galactan may form tightly and more loosely bound layers, respectively, around the cellulose microfibrils, the outer layer interacting with pectic rhamnogalacturonans that occupy interstices between the hemicellulose-coated microfibrils.

Journal Article↗

Cell Wall Metabolism in Ripening Fruit: IV. Characterization of the Pectic Polysaccharides Solubilized during Softening of ;Bartlett' Pear Fruit.

Fractionation of pectic polysaccharides from the juice of ripening ;Bartlett' pears (Pyrus communis) gave two general types of polyuronides. The major type was a homogalacturonan (HGA) whose molecular weight decreased upon ripening. The other type comprised heteropolymers composed of various amounts of arabinose, rhamnose, and galactose. Treatment of the major arabinose-containing heteropolymeric fraction of high molecular weight (400,000) with a pear exo-polygalacturonase to degrade contaminating HGA gave a polyuronide which was inert to tomato endopolygalacturonase. Glycosyl-linkage analysis of this arabinosyl-polyuronide gave results expected from a rhamnogalacturonan I-like polysaccharide with large, highly branched araban side chains (RG-I). A linkage between HGA and RG-I was not found. RG-I, in ripening pears, appeared to be degraded with the initial loss of much of its arabinose.

Journal Article↗