Prime Time for Cellulose

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Plants cannot survive without cellulose, the primary constituent of their cell walls. Although some of the subunits composing the rosette-shaped cellulose synthase--the enzyme complex that synthesizes cellulose--have been identified, the biochemical steps in the initiation, elongation, and termination of the glucan chain are still something of a mystery. In their Perspective, Read and Bacic discuss new work ( Peng et al.) that reveals the identity of the lipid primer that initiates synthesis of the glucan chain.