Xyloglucan oligosaccharides promote growth and activate cellulase: evidence for a role of cellulase in cell expansion

• Published in: Plant physiology (Bethesda) Vol. 93; no. 3; pp. 1042 - 1048
• Main Authors: McDougall, G.J. (Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee, U.K.), Fry, S.C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rockville, MD American Society of Plant Physiologists 01.07.1990
• Subjects: 550201 - Biochemistry- Tracer Techniques; Acetates; ACTIVIDAD ENZIMATICA; ACTIVITE ENZYMATIQUE; ALARGAMIENTO DEL TALLO; ALLONGEMENT DE LA TIGE; ANALISIS QUIMICO; ANALYSE CHIMIQUE; Auxins; AZUCARES; BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; Bioassay; BIOCHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS; Biological and medical sciences; BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS; CARBOHYDRATES; Cell growth; Cell walls; CELLULASE; ENSAYO BIOLOGICO; ENZYMES; ESSAI BIOLOGIQUE; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; FUNGI; GLUCANE; GLUCANO; GLYCOSYL HYDROLASES; Growth regulators; HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS; HYDROLASES; INDICE DE CRECIMIENTO; ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS; KINETICS; LEGUMINOSAE; MAGNOLIOPHYTA; MAGNOLIOPSIDA; Metabolism; Molecules; O-GLYCOSYL HYDROLASES; OLIGOSACCHARIDES; ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; Peas; PHASEOLUS VULGARIS; PHYSIOLOGY; PISUM; PISUM SATIVUM; PLANT CELLS; Plant physiology and development; PLANTS; REACTION KINETICS; ROSA; ROSA (GENERO); SACCHARIDES; SUCRES; TAUX DE CROISSANCE; TRACER TECHNIQUES; TRITIUM COMPOUNDS; TROPAEOLUM MAJUS; Auxin; Bioassay; Growth; Trichoderma viride; Stem; Fungi; Leguminosae; Enzymatic activity; Cellulase; Dicotyledones; Pisum sativum; Angiospermae; Plant growth substance; Spermatophyta; Fungi Imperfecti; Polysaccharide; Thallophyta
• ISSN: 0032-0889; 1532-2548
• DOI: 10.1104/pp.93.3.1042

Oligosaccharides produced by the action of fungal cellulase on xyloglucans promoted the elongation of etiolated pea (Pisum sativum L.) stem segments in a straight-growth bioassay designed for the determination of auxins. The oligosaccharides were most active at about 1 micromolar. We tested the relative growth-promoting activities of four HPLC-purified oligosaccharides which shared a common glucose4.xylose3 (XG7) core. The substituted oligosaccharides XG8 (glucose4.xylose3.galactose) and XG9n (glucose4.xylose3.galactose2) were more effective than XG7 itself and XG9 (glucose4.xylose3.galactose.fucose). The same oligosaccharides also promoted the degradation, assayed viscometrically, of xyloglucan by an acidic cellulase from bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) leaves. The oligosaccharides were highly active at 10(-4) molar, causing up to a fourfold increase in activity, but the effect was still detectable at 1 micromolar. Those oligosaccharides (XG8 and XG9n) which best promoted growth, stimulated cellulase activity to the greatest extent. The oligosaccharides did not stimulate the action of the cellulase in an assay based on the conversion of [3H]xyloglucan to ethanol-soluble fragments. This suggest that the oligosaccharides enhanced the midchain hydrolysis of xyloglucan molecules (which would rapidly reduce the viscosity of the solution), at the expense of cleavage near the ternimi (which would yield ethanol-soluble products). We suggest that the promotion of midchain xyloglucan cleavage, by loosening the primary cell wall matrix, explains the promotion of growth by the oligosaccharides