Ideas on the ultrastructural organization of the cell wall components

Abstract

Abstract The wood cell wall is composed of chemically and structurally different components. The cellulose molecules are smooth long chains, able to aggregate in longitudinal direction to compact fibrils. The polyoses consist of shorter chains with side groups and branching points so that they are not able to aggregate in such a strict order as cellulose. The orientation system of the cell wall and the behavior of isolated polyoses give reason to suppose that the polyoses are not coiled forming globular particles within the cell wall. From the ontho‐genetic point of view, lignin is the last component which is incorporated into the cell wall. The different possibilities of branching resulting from the chemical characteristics of the phenylpropanone monomer enables the formation of large molecules embedding the polysaccharide elements and filling up the remaining cavities. The results of chemical and electron microscopic studies are projected into a model representing a possible ultra‐structural organization of the components within the wood cell wall.