Phenolic components of the primary cell wall. Feruloylated disaccharides of d-galactose and l-arabinose from spinach polysaccharide

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Abstract
Cell walls from rapidly growing cell suspension cultures of S. oleracea L. contained ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid esterified with a water-insoluble polymer. Prolonged treatment with trypsin did not release and feruloyl esters from dearabinofuranosylated cell walls, and the polymer was also insoluble in phenol/acetic acid/water (2:1:1, wt/vol/vol). Treatment of the cell walls with the fungal hydrolase preparation Driselase did liberate low MW feruloyl esters. The major esters were 4-O-(6-O-feruloyl-.beta.-D-galactopyranosyl)-D-galactose and 3?-O-(3-O-feruloyl-.alpha.-L-arabinopyranosyl)-L-arabinose. These 2 esters accounted for .apprx. 60% of the cell-wall ferulate. The feruloylation of cell-wall polymers is apparently not a random process, but occurs at very specific sites, probably on the arabinogalactan component of pectin. The possible role of such phenolic substituents in cell-wall architecture and growth is discussed.