Plant cell walls contain elaborate polysaccharide networks and regulate plant growth, development, mechanics, cell-cell communication and adhesion, and defense. Despite conferring rigidity to support plant structures,...Plant cell walls contain elaborate polysaccharide networks and regulate plant growth, development, mechanics, cell-cell communication and adhesion, and defense. Despite conferring rigidity to support plant structures, the cell wall is a dynamic extracellular matrix that is modified, reorganized, and degraded to tightly control its properties during growth and development. Far from being a terminal carbon sink, many wall polymers can be degraded and recycled by plant cells, either via direct re-incorporation by trans- glycosylation or via internalization and metabolic salvage of wall-derived sugars to produce new precur- sors for wall synthesis. However, the physiological and metabolic contributions of wall recycling to plant growth and development are largely undefined. In this review, we discuss long-standing and recent evi- dence supporting the occurrence of cell-wall recycling in plants, make predictions regarding the develop- mental processes to which wall recycling might contribute, and identify outstanding questions and emerging experimental tools that might be used to address these questions and enhance our understanding of this poorly characterized aspect of wall dynamics and metabolism.展开更多
文摘Plant cell walls contain elaborate polysaccharide networks and regulate plant growth, development, mechanics, cell-cell communication and adhesion, and defense. Despite conferring rigidity to support plant structures, the cell wall is a dynamic extracellular matrix that is modified, reorganized, and degraded to tightly control its properties during growth and development. Far from being a terminal carbon sink, many wall polymers can be degraded and recycled by plant cells, either via direct re-incorporation by trans- glycosylation or via internalization and metabolic salvage of wall-derived sugars to produce new precur- sors for wall synthesis. However, the physiological and metabolic contributions of wall recycling to plant growth and development are largely undefined. In this review, we discuss long-standing and recent evi- dence supporting the occurrence of cell-wall recycling in plants, make predictions regarding the develop- mental processes to which wall recycling might contribute, and identify outstanding questions and emerging experimental tools that might be used to address these questions and enhance our understanding of this poorly characterized aspect of wall dynamics and metabolism.
