STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF PLANT-CELL WALLS - IMMUNOLOGICAL APPROACHES

Plant cells are surrounded by a cell wall that gives them characteristics different from animal cells. The important functions of plant cells depend on the presence of cell walls and their characteristics. A plant cell cannot exist for long without its cell wall. Throughout its life, the cell wall provides the plant with the mechanical strength to construct and protect itself against the environment. The cell wall can be divided into primary and secondary cell walls. The primary cell wall is the wall of growing cells and the secondary cell wall is formed after growth has stopped and differentiation has started. Immunological methods offer potent probes for clarifying the location, metabolism, function, and structure of cell wall polymers. This chapter summarizes the advances in immunological approaches and its future prospects to study plant cell wall. Potent probes, such as antibodies, lectins, and enzymes are needed to specifically distinguish details of cell wall components. Antibodies are the most suitable, as they are more precise than other candidates. Antibodies can be generated against different types of target cell wall components. The occurrence and location of polysaccharides, structural glycoproteins, and enzymes constituting the cell wall have been significantly examined with antibodies specific for these compounds. The antibodies are also useful probes for clarifying the conformational structure and the regulation of metabolism or gene expression of different wall components in relation to their roles in diverse functions of the cell wall. © 1991 Elsevier Science Publishers, B.V.