L. Dolan et al., DEVELOPMENTAL REGULATION OF PECTIC POLYSACCHARIDES IN THE ROOT-MERISTEM OF ARABIDOPSIS, Journal of Experimental Botany, 48(308), 1997, pp. 713-720
JIM 5, an antibody that recognizes a relatively unesterified pectic ep
itope, distinguishes between dividing (meristematic) and non-dividing
(central cells of the quiescent centre) cells in the Arabidopsis root
tip, indicating that non-dividing cell walls contain higher levels of
relatively unesterified pectin than dividing cells. JIM 7, an antibody
that recognizes a relatively methyl esterified epitope, labels all ce
ll walls uniformly throughout the root, suggesting that there is littl
e variation in the relatively methyl esterified pectic component in th
e two cell types. These observations suggest that the characteristics
of cell walls in the root tip result in part from modulations in the a
mount of unesterified and non-methyl esterified pectin.