Plant cell wall elasticity II: Polymer elastic properties of the microfibrils*

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Plant cell walls are composed essentially of two polymer constituents, a network of highly structured microfibrils embedded in a relatively unstructured matrix. The first polymer analysis by Wu et al. (1985; Plant, Cell Environ. 8, 563) was adequate to describe elastic properties of the matrix only, but further analysis is required to describe the contribution of the microfibrils in maintaining cell wall integrity, restraining cell expansion, and regulating the direction of expansion. In this further analysis of plant cell wall elasticity, as the walls stretch, the microfibrils come under stress and resist further cell expansion. The structural and mechanical integrity of the cell wall is maintained despite increasing internal cell pressure. A test of the nonlinear pressure-volume relationship makes use of previously published plant-water relations data depicted on Höfler diagrams.

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    *

    Cell wall mechanics studies were initiated as part of National Science Foundation grant DEB 77-14408. These studies have been extended as part of NSF BSR-84-06136 and BSR-86-14911.

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