Following pollination, the epidermal cells of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) ovule undergo a complex differentiation process that includes the synthesis and polar secretion of pectinaceous mucilage followed by the production of a secondary cell wall. Wetting of mature seeds leads to the rapid bursting of these mucilage secretory cells to release a hydrophilic gel that surrounds the seed...

The Arabidopsis thaliana accession Shahdara was identified as a rare naturally occurring mutant that does not liberate seed mucilage on imbibition. The defective locus was found to be allelic to the mum2-1 and mum2-2 mutants. Map-based cloning showed that MUCILAGE-MODIFIED2 (MUM2) encodes the putative beta-D-galactosidase BGAL6. Activity assays demonstrated that one of four major beta-D-galacto...

The plant cell wall is held together by the interactions between four major components: cellulose, pectin, hemicellulose, and proteins. Mucilage is a powerful model system to study the interactions between these components as it is formed of polysaccharides that are deposited in the apoplast of seed coat epidermal cells during seed development. When seeds are hydrated, these polysaccharides exp...

Mucilage was isolated from the seeds of Diospyros melonoxylon Roxb., a plant growing naturally in the forests of India. Various physico-chemical methods like particle analysis, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetry analysis, molecular weight by gel permeation chromatography, rheometry, elemental analysis, x-ray diffracti...

Exposure of the mature Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seed to water results in the rapid release of pectinaceous mucilage from the outer cells of the testa. Once released, mucilage completely envelops the seed in a gel-like capsule. The physical force required to rupture the outer cell wall of the testa comes from the swelling of the mucilage as it expands rapidly following hydration. In th...

Mucilage extracted from Plantago psyllium seeds was evaluated for inertness and safety parameters. The suitability of psyllium mucilage for a pharmaceutical binder was assessed in paracetamol tablets. Properties of the granules prepared using different concentrations of psyllium mucilage was compared with PVP and tragacanth. Psyllium mucilage at 5 % (m/m) was found to be comparable with 3 % (m/...

In some plant species, including Arabidopsis, fertilization induces the epidermal cells of the outer ovule integument to differentiate into a specialized seed coat cell type with a unique morphology and containing large quantities of polysaccharide mucilage (pectin). Such seed coat mucilage cells are necessary for neither viability nor germination under normal laboratory conditions. Thus, the A...

The Arabidopsis seed coat epidermis undergoes a complex process of differentiation that includes the biosynthesis and secretion of large quantities of pectinaceous mucilage, cytoplasmic rearrangement, and secondary cell wall biosynthesis. Mutations in MUM4 (MUCILAGE-MODIFIED4) lead to a decrease in seed coat mucilage and incomplete cytoplasmic rearrangement. We show that MUM4 encodes a putative...

BACKGROUND Marine snow (small amorphous aggregates with colloidal properties) is present in all oceans of the world. Surface water warming and the consequent increase of water column stability can favour the coalescence of marine snow into marine mucilage, large marine aggregates representing an ephemeral and extreme habitat. Marine mucilage characterize aquatic systems with altered environment...

THE dispersed cellulose component which is found in white mustard seed mucilage [Bailey and Norris, 1932] and in quince seed mucilage [Schmidt, 1844; Kirchner and Tollens, 1874; Renfrew and Cretcher, 1932] has now been obtained from the mucilage of cress seed, Lepidium sativum. The present communication, which deals mainly with the chemistry of this seed mucilage, falls into three sections: (1)...