5.THE BIOCHEMISTRY AND STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY OF PLANTÂ CELL WALL DECONSTRUCTIO By MAYUR SUTHAR

Abstract

The cell walls of plants are the most abundant source of organic carbon on the planet. This photosynthetically fixed carbon is recycled by microbial enzymes that convert cell wall polysaccharides to monosaccharides and oligosaccharides, a process that is of biological and industrial importance. Plant cell walls are recalcitrant to biological depolymerization, as the extensive interactions between polysaccharides, and between polysaccharides and lignin, restrict access to the battery of microbial glycoside hydrolases, pectate lyases, and esterases that break down these composite structures. Since the early 1990s, there has been an explosion of structural information on both the catalytic and noncatalytic components of these enzymes. This review will provide an overview/update of the structure-function relationships of the enzymes that catalyze plant cell wall deconstruction. This review paper can also serve as a ready source of literature review for reaserchers and students involved in life science and Biochemistry. The aim of this paper is to review the Plant Cell Wall Deconstruction and the importance of the cell wall in the biochemistry and structural biology.
KEY WORD: Plants, Cell Wall, Biochemistry.