**Part 5**

**Cellular Physiology** 

278 Atomic Force Microscopy Investigations into Biology – From Cell to Protein

Twarock, R. (2006). Mathematical Virology: A Novel Approach to the Structure and

Uchida, M., Klem, M. T., Allen, M., Suci, P., Flenniken, M., Gillitzer, E., Varpness, Z.,

VIiegenthart, G. A. & Gompper, G. (2007). Mechanical Properties of Icosahedral Virus

Vliegenthart, G. A. & Gompper, G. (2006). Mechanical Deformation of Spherical Viruses

Vriezema, D. M., Aragones, M. C., Elemans, J. A. A. W., Cornelissen, J. J. L. M., Rowan, A. E.

Warfield, K. L., Bosio, C. M., Welcher, B. C., Deal, E. M., Mohamadzadeh, M., Schmaljohn,

Zandi, R. & Reguera, D. (2005). Mechanical Properties of Viral Capsids. *Physical Review E*,

Zandi, R., Reguera, D., Bruinsma, R. F., Gelbart, W. M. & Rudnick, J. (2004). Origin of

Zhao, Y., Mahajan, N., Long, S., Wang, Q. & Fang, J. (2006). Stability of Virus Nanoparticles

Zink, M. & Grubmuller, H. (2009). Mechanical Properties of the Icosahedral Shell of

*Virology*, Vol. 71, No. 10, (Oct), pp. 8066-8072, ISSN 0022-538X.

*Letters*, Vol. 1, No. 1, (Jul), pp. 1-4, ISSN 1750-0443.

96, No. 4, (Feb 18), pp. 1350-1363, ISSN 0006-3495.

1364-503X.

0928-1045.

8424.

ISSN 0006-3495.

20), pp. 1025-1042, ISSN 0935-9648.

No. 4, (Apr), pp. 1445-1489, ISSN 0009-2665.

Vol. 72, No. 2, (Aug), 1539-3755.

Assembly of Viruses. *Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society a-Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences*, Vol. 364, No. 1849, (Dec 15), pp. 3357-3373, ISSN

Liepold, L. O., Young, M. & Douglas, T. (2007). Biological Containers: Protein Cages as Multifunctional Nanoplatforms. *Advanced Materials*, Vol. 19, No. 8, (Apr

Capsids. *Journal of Computer-Aided Materials Design*, Vol. 14, No. pp. 111-119, ISSN

with Icosahedral Symmetry. *Biophysical Journal*, Vol. 91, No. 3, (Aug), pp. 834-841,

& Nolte, R. J. M. (2005). Self-Assembled Nanoreactors. *Chemical Reviews*, Vol. 105,

A., Aman, M. J. & Bavari, S. (2003). Ebola Virus-Like Particles Protect from Lethal Ebola Virus Infection. *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America*, Vol. 100, No. 26, (Dec 23), pp. 15889-15894, ISSN 0027-8424. White, L. J., Hardy, M. E. & Estes, H. K. (1997). Biochemical Characterization of a Smaller

Form of Recombinant Norwalk Virus Capsids Assembled in Insect Cells. *Journal of* 

Icosahedral Symmetry in Viruses. *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America*, Vol. 101, No. 44, (Nov 2), pp. 15556-15560, ISSN 0027-

on Substrates under Applied Load with Atomic Force Microscope. *Micro & Nano* 

Southern Bean Mosaic Virus: A Molecular Dynamics Study. *Biophysical Journal*, Vol.

**13** 

**Plant Cell Walls** 

*University of Auckland, Auckland* 

*New Zealand* 

**Single-Molecule Force Microscopy: A Potential** 

Plant cells are surrounded by a polysaccharide-rich cell wall that, as well as being a supporting structure (O'Neill & York, 2003), plays important roles in plant growth and development, and in the protection of plants from both biotic and abiotic stresses (Bowles, 1990). Plant cell walls are also of global economic importance, with the cell walls of food crops being of great nutritional value, while those of agricultural crops are important as a renewable resource for the textile and building industries, and increasingly as a sustainable

The primary plant cell wall is a three-dimensional assembly of the polysaccharides, cellulose, pectin and hemicelluloses together with water, minerals and some structural glycoproteins. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) of *Arabidopsis thaliana* leaf cell walls showed the cellulose exists as microfibrils (Davies & Harris, 2003). AFM of living celery parenchyma tissue showed the cellulose microfibrils exist in highly ordered parallel array (Thimm et al., 2000). While AFM on isolated cell walls from celery and cucumber hypocotyls that were kept hydrated showed the cellulose microfibrils were undulating in a roughly parallel manner (Thimm et al., 2009; Marga et al., 2005). Moreover, each cellulose microfibril is surrounded by matrix material (presumably pectin and hemicelluloses) that keeps the celluloses uniformly spaced apart (Marga et al., 2005; Thimm et al., 2000; Thimm et al., 2009). Small angle X-ray scattering of hydrated celery collenchyma cell walls also showed uniform spacing of cellulose microfibrils (Kennedy et al., 2007). Solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) indicated that in mung bean hypocotyls less than 10% of the surface of cellulose microfibrils has xyloglucan adhering to it (Bootten et al., 2004) and a recent three-dimensional solid-state NMR study of *Arabidopsis thaliana* cell walls supported this finding and also showed somewhat more pectin than xyloglucan adhered to cellulose (Dick-Perez et al., 2011). Indeed, Zykwinska et al. (2007) have previously shown

**1. Introduction** 

source of fuel (O'Neill & York, 2003).

**2. The plant cell wall** 

**2.1 Plant cell wall structure** 

**Tool for the Mapping of Polysaccharides in** 

Julian C. Thimm1, Laurence D. Melton2 and David J. Burritt1

*1The Department of Botany, The University of Otago, Dunedin 2Food Science Programmes, School of Chemistry Sciences,* 
