LOCALIZATION OF HEMICELLULOSES IN THE CELL-WALLS OF SOME WOODY-PLANTSUSING IMMONUGOLD ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY

The localization of xyloglucan and glucomannan was determined in the d ifferentiating xylem cells of pine, poplar and bamboo using immuno-gol d electron microscopy. Xyloglucan was localized in the primary wall. I n bamboo, many gold-particles, which indicated xyloglucan localization , were found in the vessel primary wall, but seldom found in the walls of the other cells. Such a tendency was not seen in pine or poplar. T his suggests that either the vessel primary wall of bamboo contains mo re xyloglucan than the other cells or that the xyloglucan in the vesse l wall contains more substituted xylosyl residues than the other cells . Glucomannan was localized clearly in the secondary wall of pine. How ever, the gold-particles were found only sporadically in the secondary wall of the other species. These findings and the fact that an antibo dy against tetramannoside was used for the immuno-gold detection of gl ucomannan suggest that the glucomannan of pine contains a much larger amount of tetrameric fragments of manno-oligosaccharide, than the othe r species.