From nucleotide sugars to polysaccharides: How do plants control the delivery of substrates for cell wall biosynthesis and protein glycosylation?

Abstract

Plant cell walls constitute one of the most abundant raw biomaterials on Earth. The synthesis of long-chain olysaccharides, the main components of plant cell walls starts ab ovo in the cytoplasm where most of the building blocks for polysaccharide synthesis, so-called nucleotide sugars, are produced. The monosaccharide moieties of nucleotide sugars are incorporated into growing polysaccharide chains either directly at the plasma membrane by lycosyltransferases (GTs) that form cellulose synthase complexes or by those residing in the Golgi apparatus. In the latter case, nucleotide sugars have to pass the Golgi membranes with the help of nucleotide sugar transporters (NSTs). Once inside, they ..