News tagged with plant cell walls

Blossom end rot plummets in transgenic tomato

The brown tissue that signals blossom end rot in tomatoes is a major problem for large producers and home gardeners, but a Purdue University researcher has unknowingly had the answer to significantly lowering ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 3

Which plants will survive droughts, climate change?

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research by UCLA life scientists could lead to predictions of which plant species will escape extinction from climate change.

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 06, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Chemists study mutated plants that may be better for biofuels

Genetic mutations to cellulose in plants could improve the conversion of cellulosic biomass into biofuels, according to a research team that included two Iowa State University chemists.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Feb 28, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Plant toughness: Key to cracking biofuels?

Along with photosynthesis, the plant cell wall is one of the features that most set plants apart from animals. A structural molecule called cellulose is necessary for the manufacture of these walls. Cellulose is synthesized ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 21, 2012 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Making nature's best better to produce biofuels

If a tree falls in the forest and there are no enzymes to digest it, does it break down?

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study offers insight into delicate biochemical balance required for plant growth

(PhysOrg.com) -- In an ongoing effort to understand how modifying plant cell walls might affect the production of biomass and its breakdown for use in biofuels, scientists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 16, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Study settles 125-year debate on how nitrogen-fixing bacteria breaches cell walls of legumes

A 125-year debate on how nitrogen-fixing bacteria are able to breach the cell walls of legumes has been settled. A paper to be published on Monday by John Innes Centre scientists reports that plants themselves allow bacteria ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Size matters: Sugars regulate communication between plant cells

Multicellular organisms must have a means for cells to communicate with one another. Past research has shown that plants possess the ability to directly transfer materials between adjacent cells, through holes in their cell ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 12, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The heart of the plant

Food prices are soaring at the same time as the Earth's population is nearing 9 billion. As a result the need for increased crop yields is extremely important. New research led by Carnegie's Wolf Frommer into the system by ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 08, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Growing knowledge in space

Plants are critical in supporting life on Earth, and with help from an experiment that flew onboard space shuttle Discovery's STS-131 mission, they also could transform living in space.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Discovery changes how scientists think about plant cell wall formation

University of Georgia researchers have discovered that two proteins come together in an unexpected way to make a carbohydrate, a chain of sugar molecules, in plant cell walls. This fundamental discovery changes ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A corny turn for biofuels from switchgrass

Many experts believe that advanced biofuels made from cellulosic biomass are the most promising alternative to petroleum-based liquid fuels for a renewable, clean, green, domestic source of transportation ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 18, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Toward more cost-effective production of biofuels from plant lignocellulosic biomass

In 1925, Henry Ford observed that fuel is present in all vegetative matter that can be fermented and predicted that Americans would some day grow their own fuel. Last year, global biofuel production reached ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 16, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Dividing corn stover makes ethanol conversion more efficient

(PhysOrg.com) -- Not all parts of a corn stalk are equal, and they shouldn't be treated that way when creating cellulosic ethanol, say Purdue University researchers.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 25, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Pretreatment, proper harvest time boost ethanol from switchgrass

Adding a pretreatment step would allow producers to get more ethanol from switchgrass harvested in the fall, according to a Purdue University study.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Aug 31, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cell wall

A cell wall is a tough, flexible and sometimes fairly rigid layer that surrounds some types of cells. It is located outside the cell membrane and provides these cells with structural support and protection, and also acts as a filtering mechanism. A major function of the cell wall is to act as a pressure vessel, preventing over-expansion when water enters the cell. They are found in plants, bacteria, fungi, algae, and some archaea. Animals and protozoa do not have cell walls.

The materials in a cell wall vary between species, and in plants and fungi also differ between cell types and developmental stages. In plants, the strongest component of the complex cell wall is a carbohydrate called cellulose, which is a polymer of glucose. In bacteria, peptidoglycan forms the cell wall. Archaean cell walls have various compositions, and may be formed of glycoprotein S-layers, pseudopeptidoglycan, or polysaccharides. Fungi possess cell walls made of the glucosamine polymer chitin, and algae typically possess walls made of glycoproteins and polysaccharides. Unusually, diatoms have a cell wall composed of silicic acid. Often, other accessory molecules are found anchored to the cell wall.

For more information about Cell wall, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: biofuel , ethanol