Tools for cellulose analysis in plant cell walls.

Cellulose is intimately associated with multiple facets of human civilization: central to clothing, shelter, heat, medicine, and food, there are fewmoments in the average human life that are not spent in direct contact with cellulose or a by-product of its composition. It should come as no surprise then that a considerable amount of time and energy have been spent, and a couple of Nobel Prizes awarded, in research involved with the analysis of cellulose structure andmetabolism from various sources. As the understanding of this important biomacromolecule has developed, numerous analytical techniques have been put to use to decipher cellulose biosynthesis, structure, and function within the plant cell wall. The content of this Update is designed to introduce the reader to current and developing tools for cellulose characterization. To begin, “a brief history” on the analysis of cellulose describes how many of the modern analytical techniques used to determine cellulose structure came into use. This leads into the various imaging techniques that interrogate cellulose biosynthesis, especially those that have arisen since the identification of the CELLULOSE SYNTHASE A (CESA) genes. We then turn our attention to recent in vitro biochemical studies of CESA, and in this context we discuss the relationship between CESA and detergent-resistant fractions of the plasma membrane (PM), which have the opportunity to shine new light on the PM-cell wall continuum.