---
_id: '11351'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: 'One hallmark of plant cells is their cell wall. They protect cells against
    the environment and high turgor and mediate morphogenesis through the dynamics
    of their mechanical and chemical properties. The walls are a complex polysaccharidic
    structure. Although their biochemical composition is well known, how the different
    components organize in the volume of the cell wall and interact with each other
    is not well understood and yet is key to the wall’s mechanical properties. To
    investigate the ultrastructure of the plant cell wall, we imaged the walls of
    onion (Allium cepa) bulbs in a near-native state via cryo-focused ion beam milling
    (cryo-FIB milling) and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET). This allowed the high-resolution
    visualization of cellulose fibers in situ. We reveal the coexistence of dense
    fiber fields bathed in a reticulated matrix we termed “meshing,” which is more
    abundant at the inner surface of the cell wall. The fibers adopted a regular bimodal
    angular distribution at all depths in the cell wall and bundled according to their
    orientation, creating layers within the cell wall. Concomitantly, employing homogalacturonan
    (HG)-specific enzymatic digestion, we observed changes in the meshing, suggesting
    that it is—at least in part—composed of HG pectins. We propose the following model
    for the construction of the abaxial epidermal primary cell wall: the cell deposits
    successive layers of cellulose fibers at −45° and +45° relative to the cell’s
    long axis and secretes the surrounding HG-rich meshing proximal to the plasma
    membrane, which then migrates to more distal regions of the cell wall.'
acknowledgement: This work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
  and grant R35 GM122588 to G.J. and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) P33367 to F.K.M.S.
  We thank Noé Cochetel for his guidance and great help in data analysis, discovery,
  and representation with the R software. We thank Hans-Ulrich Endress for graciously
  providing us with the purified citrus pectin and Jozef Mravec for generating and
  providing the COS488 probe. Cryo-EM work was done in the Beckman Institute Resource
  Center for Transmission Electron Microscopy at Caltech. This article is subject
  to HHMI’s Open Access to Publications policy. HHMI lab heads have previously granted
  a nonexclusive CC BY 4.0 license to the public and a sublicensable license to HHMI
  in their research articles. Pursuant to those licenses, the author accepted manuscript
  of this article can be made freely available under a CC BY 4.0 license immediately
  upon publication.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: William J.
  full_name: Nicolas, William J.
  last_name: Nicolas
- first_name: Florian
  full_name: Fäßler, Florian
  id: 404F5528-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Fäßler
  orcid: 0000-0001-7149-769X
- first_name: Przemysław
  full_name: Dutka, Przemysław
  last_name: Dutka
- first_name: Florian KM
  full_name: Schur, Florian KM
  id: 48AD8942-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Schur
  orcid: 0000-0003-4790-8078
- first_name: Grant
  full_name: Jensen, Grant
  last_name: Jensen
- first_name: Elliot
  full_name: Meyerowitz, Elliot
  last_name: Meyerowitz
citation:
  ama: Nicolas WJ, Fäßler F, Dutka P, Schur FK, Jensen G, Meyerowitz E. Cryo-electron
    tomography of the onion cell wall shows bimodally oriented cellulose fibers and
    reticulated homogalacturonan networks. <i>Current Biology</i>. 2022;32(11):P2375-2389.
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.024">10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.024</a>
  apa: Nicolas, W. J., Fäßler, F., Dutka, P., Schur, F. K., Jensen, G., &#38; Meyerowitz,
    E. (2022). Cryo-electron tomography of the onion cell wall shows bimodally oriented
    cellulose fibers and reticulated homogalacturonan networks. <i>Current Biology</i>.
    Elsevier. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.024">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.024</a>
  chicago: Nicolas, William J., Florian Fäßler, Przemysław Dutka, Florian KM Schur,
    Grant Jensen, and Elliot Meyerowitz. “Cryo-Electron Tomography of the Onion Cell
    Wall Shows Bimodally Oriented Cellulose Fibers and Reticulated Homogalacturonan
    Networks.” <i>Current Biology</i>. Elsevier, 2022. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.024">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.024</a>.
  ieee: W. J. Nicolas, F. Fäßler, P. Dutka, F. K. Schur, G. Jensen, and E. Meyerowitz,
    “Cryo-electron tomography of the onion cell wall shows bimodally oriented cellulose
    fibers and reticulated homogalacturonan networks,” <i>Current Biology</i>, vol.
    32, no. 11. Elsevier, pp. P2375-2389, 2022.
  ista: Nicolas WJ, Fäßler F, Dutka P, Schur FK, Jensen G, Meyerowitz E. 2022. Cryo-electron
    tomography of the onion cell wall shows bimodally oriented cellulose fibers and
    reticulated homogalacturonan networks. Current Biology. 32(11), P2375-2389.
  mla: Nicolas, William J., et al. “Cryo-Electron Tomography of the Onion Cell Wall
    Shows Bimodally Oriented Cellulose Fibers and Reticulated Homogalacturonan Networks.”
    <i>Current Biology</i>, vol. 32, no. 11, Elsevier, 2022, pp. P2375-2389, doi:<a
    href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.024">10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.024</a>.
  short: W.J. Nicolas, F. Fäßler, P. Dutka, F.K. Schur, G. Jensen, E. Meyerowitz,
    Current Biology 32 (2022) P2375-2389.
date_created: 2022-05-04T06:22:06Z
date_published: 2022-06-06T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-04-15T08:25:40Z
day: '06'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: FlSc
doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.024
external_id:
  isi:
  - '000822399200019'
  pmid:
  - '35508170'
file:
- access_level: open_access
  checksum: af3f24d97c016d844df237abef987639
  content_type: application/pdf
  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2022-08-05T06:29:18Z
  date_updated: 2022-08-05T06:29:18Z
  file_id: '11730'
  file_name: 2022_CurrentBiology_Nicolas.pdf
  file_size: 12827717
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  success: 1
file_date_updated: 2022-08-05T06:29:18Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '        32'
isi: 1
issue: '11'
keyword:
- General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
- General Biochemistry
- Genetics and Molecular Biology
language:
- iso: eng
month: '06'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: P2375-2389
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: 9B954C5C-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A
  grant_number: P33367
  name: Structure and isoform diversity of the Arp2/3 complex
publication: Current Biology
publication_identifier:
  issn:
  - 0960-9822
publication_status: published
publisher: Elsevier
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Cryo-electron tomography of the onion cell wall shows bimodally oriented cellulose
  fibers and reticulated homogalacturonan networks
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 4359f0d1-fa6c-11eb-b949-802e58b17ae8
volume: 32
year: '2022'
...