Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2021, Vol. 56 ›› Issue (2): 191-200.DOI: 10.11983/CBB20179

• SPECIAL TOPICS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Biosynthesis and Function of Plant Pectin

Peipei Liu, Geng Zhang, Xiaojuan Li()   

  1. Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Tree Breeding by Molecular Design, College of Biological Science and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
  • Received:2020-11-10 Accepted:2021-01-21 Online:2021-03-01 Published:2021-03-17
  • Contact: Xiaojuan Li

Abstract: As one of the plant cell wall polysaccharides, pectin has a very complex structure and function. Pectin is mainly composed by homogalacturonan (HG), rhamngalacturonan I (RGI), rhamngalacturonan II (RGII). Pectin plays an important role in maintaining the integrity of cell wall structure, intercellular adhesion and signal transduction. Therefore, studying the structure, distribution and roles of pectin components is of great significance for understanding the construction and function of cell wall. However, it is not clear how these three components of pectin cross-link to form high structure and perform biological function in the cell wall. This review will focus on the biosynthesis, functions of HG, RGI, RGII as well as the microscopic imaging techniques of pectin, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for the study of the structure and function of plant pectin.

Key words: biosynthesis, function of pectin, microscopic imaging, pectin components