Title
Resonant soft X-ray scattering reveals cellulose microfibril spacing in plant primary cell walls
Date Issued
01 December 2018
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
University Park
Publisher(s)
Nature Publishing Group
Abstract
Cellulose microfibrils are crucial for many of the remarkable mechanical properties of primary cell walls. Nevertheless, many structural features of cellulose microfibril organization in cell walls are not yet fully described. Microscopy techniques provide direct visualization of cell wall organization, and quantification of some aspects of wall microstructure is possible through image processing. Complementary to microscopy techniques, scattering yields structural information in reciprocal space over large sample areas. Using the onion epidermal wall as a model system, we introduce resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSoXS) to directly quantify the average interfibril spacing. Tuning the X-ray energy to the calcium L-edge enhances the contrast between cellulose and pectin due to the localization of calcium ions to homogalacturonan in the pectin matrix. As a consequence, RSoXS profiles reveal an average center-to-center distance between cellulose microfibrils or microfibril bundles of about 20 nm.
Volume
8
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias de las plantas, Botánica
Física de la materia condensada
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85051934383
PubMed ID
Source
Scientific Reports
ISSN of the container
20452322
Sponsor(s)
This work was supported as part of the Center for Lignocellulose Structure and Formation, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under award no. DE-SC0001090. D.Y. acknowledges support by an Advanced Light Source Doctoral Fellowship in Residence. The Advanced Light Source is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus