Abstract
Whole xyloglucan and its oligosaccharide determine the suppression and acceleration of cell elongation, respectively, in the elongating region of pea stem. The occurrence of XET in the elongated region probably gives rigidity to the wall. In fact, the integration of 50 kDa xyloglucan caused by the action of wall-bound XET suppressed cell elongation, while that of its fragment oligosaccharide (XXXG) accelerated it.
We examined the elongation of pea stem by the addition of series of xyloglucan heptasaccharides (XXXG) highly purified, composed by 1-10 units of XXXG. The results showed that xyloglucan fragments composed by 1 to 3 units accelerated and those composed by more than 6 units of XXXG suppressed the elongation.
