PLANT PHYSIOLOGY , Vol 107, Issue 4 1399-1409, Copyright © 1995 by American Society of Plant Biologists
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DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH REGULATION |
Polysaccharide Composition of Unlignified Cell Walls of Pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.] Fruit
B. G. Smith and P. J. Harris
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
The polysaccharides of cell walls isolated from the fleshy, edible part of
the fruit of the monocotyledon pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.]
(family Bromeliaceae) were analyzed chemically. These cell walls were
derived mostly from parenchyma cells and were shown histochemically to be
unlignified, but they contained esterlinked ferulic acid. The analyses
indicated that the noncellulosic polysaccharide composition of the cell
walls was intermediate between that of unlignified cell walls of species of
the monocotyledon family Poaceae (grasses and cereals) and that of
unlignified cell walls of dicotyledons. Glucuronoarabinoxylans were the
major non-cellulosic polysaccharides in the pineapple cell walls.
Xyloglucans were also present, together with small amounts of pectic
polysaccharides and glucomannans (or galactoglucomannans). The large
amounts of glucuronoarabinoxylans and small amounts of pectic
polysaccharides resemble the noncellulosic polysaccharide composition of
the unlignified cell walls of the Poaceae. However, the absence of (1
->3,1 ->4)-[beta]-glucans, the presence of relatively large amounts
of xyloglucans, and the possible structure of the xyloglucans resemble the
noncellulosic polysaccharide composition of the unlignified cell walls of
dicotyledons.
