Abstract
The goal of this procedure is to extract pectin from plant cell walls. Pectins are galacturonic acid containing polymeric sugars that are important components of plant cell walls. Various procedures aimed at studying plant cell wall components require the extraction of pectin. Pectin is synthesized in the Golgi apparatus in a highly esterified fashion and is de-esterified in the cell wall (Mohnen, 2008). Pectin is generally water soluble. De-esterified pectin can form so-called “egg-box structures” in the presence of Ca2+ ions (Mohnen, 2008; Harholt et al., 2010). Pectin in these “egg-box structures” is cross-linked and less soluble. Cyclohexane diamine tetraacetic acid (CDTA) chelates Ca2+ ions and hence allows extraction of Ca2+ cross-linked pectin from cell walls.
Materials and Reagents
Equipment
Procedure
Notes
Recipes
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy through Grant DE-FG02-05ER15670 to J.G. Many labs have used similar protocols in the past. We have adapted this protocol from Siedlecka et al. (2008).
References
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