OVERVIEW

CELL WALL
The plant cell wall, an extracellular matrix that is mainly composed of
polysaccharides and is about 0.2 μm thick, completely coats the
outside of the plant cell’s plasma membrane. This structure serves
some of the same functions as the ECM produced by animal cells,
even though the two structures are composed of entirely different
macromolecules and have a different organization. About 1000 genes
in the plant Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant also called “thale
cress”, are devoted to the synthesis and functioning of its cell wall,
including approximately 414 glycosyltransferase genes and more
than 316 glycosyl hydrolase genes.
Structure and biogenesis of
plasmodesmata (Haywood et al.,
2002) Formation of primary and
secondary PD. Primary PD are
formed during the cell plate
assembly by entrapment of
endoplasmic reticulum between
vesicles whereas secondary
PD are formed on existing cell
walls by local disappearance of
the cell wall and
fusion of the cytoplasmic
membranes.
Diagrammatic representation of
the structure of a simple
plasmodesma including all
substructural
components that have been
confirmed to date. A longitudinal
section through the pore is
shown to the left, while a
transverse section through the
central cavity region is shown to
the right. Based
primarily on the model in Ding
et al. (1992b) and modified from
Roberts and Oparka (2003).
Diagrammatic representation of the structural change from simple to branched plasmodesmata.
During development, the simple pore develops into a complex, branched structure with a central cavity
aligned along the middle lamella of the cell wall. This transformation occurs via an H-shaped intermediate
structure that appears to form by the introduction of a new protoplasmic bridge between neighbouring pairs
of simple plasmodesmata. WC, wall collar; ML, middle lamella; D, desmotubule; PM, plasma membrane;
ER, endoplasmic reticulum; CW, cell wall; CC, central cavity. Redrawn from Oparka et al. (1999).