Research progress in glucuronoxylan biosynthesis

Objective Plant cell wall plays a very important role in plant morphological structure mainte nance, growth, development and resistance to diseases and pests. Some cell walls can also be used as edible or medicinal materials. Recently, the plant cell wall, regarded as an important biomass resource and biological material, has become a hot research topic in botany. As one of the important components of the cell wall, it is necessary to summarize the xylan achievement and breakthrough in the past decade.

Method The progress of glucuronoxylan biosynthesis was summarized through the relevant literatures and the authors researches.

Result and conclusion Glucuronoxylan is the principal hemicellulose com ponent of secondary cell wall, which was synthesized by multiple glycosyltransferases. Deficiency of glu curonoxylan synthetase genes in Arabidopsis thaliana could lead to irregular xylem, collapsed vessel and fiber cell wall thinning. A number of genes involving in glucuronoxylan biosyntheses were discovered by phenotype analyses and gene functional analyses. These genes participated in the biosynthesis of glucuro noxylan backbone, tetrasaccharide terminals and side groups. The overall analysis of the genes was con ducive to understanding the passway of the biosynthesis of glucuronoxylan. In this paper, the genes par ticipation in glucuronoxylan biosynthesis have been reviewed and some uncertain issues of glucuronoxylan biosynthesis have been discussed in some future research priorities.