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Updated: May 16, 2026

High Resolution Quantification of Crystalline Cellulose Accumulation in Arabidopsis Roots to Monitor Tissue-specific Cell Wall Modifications
Published on: May 10, 2016
Relations between molecular, crystalline, and lamellar structures of amylopectin
Torsten Witt1, James Doutch, Elliot P Gilbert
1Tongji School of Pharmacy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, 430030.
Abstract:
Chain (branch) length distributions (CLD) from size-exclusion chromatography of a series of waxy starches were parametrized using both an empirical and a biosynthesis-based method and correlated with their crystalline-amorphous lamellar properties obtained from X-ray scattering. Correlations were best seen with the biosynthesis-based parametrization. This showed for the first time that the following links between the CLD and lamellar parameters, the average interlamellar repeat distance and the distribution of these distances, were decreased by an increase in the proportion of very short branches and were increased by an increase in the proportion of intermediate and longer chains; further, the shoulder and linear sections of the CLD were found to affect the lamellar repeat distance and distribution. These effects are rationalized in terms of branch-length effects on the production of crystallites and the presence of portions of longer branches in the amorphous regions.
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