Cellulose: Biosynthesis and Structure
The monograph is written for specialists in plant physiology and biochemistry, structural chemistry of polymers, and for specialists in agriculture and in the paper und pulp industry. It is an indispensable source of information.
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Cellulose: Biosynthesis and Structure Translated from the Russian by L. V. Backinowski and M. A. Chlenov
With 170 Figures and 53 Tables
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York London Paris Tokyo HongKong Barcelona
Professor Dr. I. A. Tarchevsky Professor Dr. G. N. Marchenko Institute of Biology, USSR Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 30, Kazan 420084, USSR
Translated from the Russian by L. V. Backinowski and M. A. Chlenov
ISBN-13:978-3-642-75476-0
e-ISBN-13:978-3-642-75474-6
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-75474-6 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is only permitted under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and a copyright fee must always be paid. Violations fall under the prosecution act of the German Copyright Law. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1991 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1991 The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
2151/3020-543210 - Printed on acid-free paper
Introduction
Cellulose constitutes the most abundant organic material of the biosphere and is widely used in national economies. Despite the tremendous importance of cellulose, elucidation of the mechanism of its synthesis and formation of molecular and supermolecular structures has attracted much less attention than other biopolymers, viz. proteins and nucleic acids. Many textbooks and specialized monograhs on cellulose point to the scarcity of our knowledge of the mechanism of biosynthesis of this polymer. Reference may be made to METZLER [1], the author of the three-volume edition 'Biochemistry. Chemical reactions in Living Cell', who states, "In spite of the evident significance of the problem, det,ails of synthesis of cellulose and chitin, built of regular polymeric chains with ~-1,4-linkages, are practically unknown." At the same time, considerable experimental material has accumulated to date which allows us to work out a concept on regularities of alteration in cell wall composition, of main stages in biosynthesis of cellulose, of in-celliocalization of the sites responsible for biosynthesis of various cell wall polysaccharides. Certain regularities are revealed concerning the regulation of synthesis of celluiose and other polysaccharides, orientation of cellulose microfibrils on the plasmalemma surface. Attempts are made to understand structural and functional peculiarities of cellulose-synthetase incorporated in the plasmalemma. Experiments are carried out with cellulose-synthetase preparations isolated from cells. Some questions remain to be solved. They are the regul
