![]() ![]() Such specialization in function is reflected at the molecular level in the design of the cell walls surrounding plant cells in each tissue. Adaptation to survive predation, unfavourable environmental conditions, and competition for resources without the ability to move to another location has hence resulted in specialized plant body plans that require highly specialized tissues with distinct properties ( Graham et al., 2000 Falster and Westoby, 2003). Since plants are autotrophs they do not rely on predation for their own survival and reproduction, and hence they did not evolve locomotive mechanisms. In addition, plants face changes in climate and compete among each other for the scarce resources they have come to rely on, such as sunlight, water, and nutrients from the soil. ![]() And so began a fascinating ‘arms race’ between plant cell strategies for protection of their rich chemical energy stores and microbial and animal strategies for the breach of such protective efforts ( Stahl and Bishop, 2000). The harvested solar energy is stored chemically in the form of carbohydrate-based polymers, a fact that was not lost on competing organisms that were developing their own strategies to utilize this chemical energy as they struggled for their own survival. In the evolution of multicellular organisms on our planet, plants arguably hold an exceptional place, for they changed the face of our planet permanently through the production of oxygen, a by-product of an efficient strategy to harvest the physical energy of the sunlight through photosynthesis. It is expected that detailed plant cell wall models will require integrated correlative multimodal, multiscale imaging and modelling approaches, which are currently underway.ģD organization, chemical composition, deconstruction, evolution, electron microscopy, plant cell wall, spectroscopy Introduction Such knowledge will also be of great interest in the context of agriculture and to plant biologists in general. Comprehensive plant cell wall models will aid in the re-design of plant cell walls for the purpose of commercially viable lignocellulosic biofuel production as well as for the timber, textile, and paper industries. Our current understanding of cell walls and their evolutionary changes are limited as our knowledge is mainly derived from biochemical and genetic studies, complemented by a few targeted yet very informative imaging studies. Throughout evolution microbes have co-evolved strategies for efficient breakdown of cell walls. Carbohydrate-rich cell walls display complex designs, which together with the presence of phenolic polymers constitutes a barrier for microbes, fungi, and animals. ![]() Cell walls not only changed throughout evolution but also are constantly remodelled and reconstructed during the development of an individual plant, and in response to environmental stress or pathogen attacks. During the course of evolution, plants have repeatedly adapted to their respective niche, which is reflected in the changes of their body plan and the specific design of cell walls. Throughout their life, plants typically remain in one location utilizing sunlight for the synthesis of carbohydrates, which serve as their sole source of energy as well as building blocks of a protective extracellular matrix, called the cell wall.
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