CD BioSciences is committed to providing a variety of analytical techniques for characterizing cellulose structures and investigating their interactions with other cell wall polymers to help customers study plant cell wall structures at multiple length scales. Our dedicated research team will develop the best experimental strategy for each of our clients.

Background

The mechanical strength of plant cell walls is due to the fact that they are made up of a variety of macromolecules, including glycoproteins, hemicellulose, cellulose, pectin and lignin. Cellulose is the most important of these, and its content determines the strength and stiffness of the plant cell wall. Apart from its biological importance, cellulose is a potentially renewable energy source, which is widely used as a key raw material for modern textile, paper production and many industrial chemical derivatives.

Cellulose is a polymorph composed of numerous glucose. Its biophysical properties of cellulose are based almost exclusively on the way the glucan chains pack, depending on the size of the fiber, the fiber length, the chain angle and the solvent used to study it. The natural structure of cell wall cellulose remains unclear due to the lack of adequate tools for in situ or in vivo studies of cellulose microfibrils. Therefore, it is critical to develop structural characterization tools for multimodal analysis of cellulose and cell walls, which is helpful to study the relationship between cell wall structure and mechanical control.

Fig.1 Atomic force microscopy images of cellulose and plant cell wall microfibrils. (Yarbrough, 2009)

Our Services

Researchers at CD BioSciences have established various techniques for characterizing the structure and interactions of cellulose in cell walls to help clients reveal structural information about the cell wall, including the size of microfibril, the crystallinity of cellulose, and spatial organization accompanying cellulose-matrix polysaccharides interactions. Our services include but are not limited to:

• Detection of Unit Cell Parameters of Cellulose
  We focus on the development of a variety of biophysical techniques to identify allomorphs of native cellulose and detect cellulose unit cell parameters.
• Measurement of Cellulose Crystallinity Index
  The crystallinity of cellulose was evaluated by a variety of techniques such as XRD, SFG spectroscopy and several physicochemical assays.
• Morphological Characterization of Cellulose Microfibres
  We provide a range of analytical methods to help customers observe the morphological characterization of cellulose microfibres, providing vital information for the conversion of cellulose into biofuels.
• Detection of Cellulose-Matrix Polysaccharides Interactions
  We apply multiple new approaches to detect the interactions between cellulose and matrix polysaccharides, providing useful information for further understanding of cell wall structure and assembly.

Our Advantages

• Professional biophysical analysis platform
• Comprehensive technical support
• Flexible and efficient experimental strategies
• Fast turnaround time

CD BioSciences focuses on providing and developing mature and emerging technologies for the characterization of cellulose structures. Our specialized biophysical analysis platform will help our clients reveal new information about cell wall structures. If you require our services, please contact us directly.

Reference

1. Yarbrough, J. M.; et al. Plant cell wall characterization using scanning probe microscopy techniques. Biotechnology for biofuels. 2009, 2(1): 1-11.

• Characterization of Plant Cell Wall Components
• Structural Characterization of Plant Cell Walls
• Structural Characterization of Lignin
• Glycan Profiling of Plant Cell Wall Polymers
• Plant Cell Wall Imaging Services
• Analysis of Mechanical Properties of Cell Wall