Arabidopsis Thaliana
Photo: Biopix.dk
Plants are an omnipresent part of daily life. They grow everywhere and perform many important ecological tasks, such as fixing atmospheric carbon into a form usable by other organisms, producing oxygen in the process. They also introduce organic nitrogen from atmospheric nitrogen by forming symbiotic relationships with nitrogen fixing bacteria. However, there is still much to be learned about plant growth and development. One mystery is how a plant grows without losing cellular tensile strength, without which cell walls would tear and burst under turgor pressure. However, this mystery and others like it are slowly being solved.
Using arabidopsis plants, researchers from Purdue University have recently discovered that specific galactose sugar residues are necessary for plants to maintain tensile strength during growth. These residues enhance the activity of a class of enzymes known as xyloglucan endotransglucosylases (abbreviated XET). Recent data (Pena et al., 2004) suggests that XET activity is necessary for growing plants to maintain structural strength and integrity.
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