Background: Molecular probes are required to detect cell wall polymers in-situ to aid understanding of their cell biology and several studies have shown that cell wall epitopes have restricted occurrences across sections of plant organs indicating that cell wall structure is highly developmentally regulated. Xyloglucan is the major hemicellulose or cross-linking glycan of the primary cell walls of dicotyledons although little is known of its occurrence or functions in relation to cell development and cell wall microstructure. Results: Using a neoglycoprotein approach, in which a XXXG heptasaccharide of tamarind seed xyloglucan was coupled to BSA to produce an immunogen, we have generated a rat monoclonal antibody (designated LM15) to the XXXG structural motif of xyloglucans. The specificity of LM15 has been confirmed by the analysis of LM15 binding using glycan microarrays and oligosaccharide hapten inhibition of binding studies. The use of LM15 for the analysis of xyloglucan in the cell walls of tamarind and nasturtium seeds, in which xyloglucan occurs as a storage polysaccharide, indicated that the LM15 xyloglucan epitope occurs throughout the thickened cell walls of the tamarind seed and in the outer regions, adjacent to middle lamellae, of the thickened cell walls of the nasturtium seed. Immunofluorescence analysis of LM15 binding to sections of tobacco and pea stem internodes indicated that the xyloglucan epitope was restricted to a few cell types in these organs. Enzymatic removal of pectic homogalacturonan from equivalent sections resulted in the abundant detection of distinct patterns of the LM15 xyloglucan epitope across these organs and a diversity of occurrences in relation to the cell wall microstructure of a range of cell types. Conclusion: These observations support ideas that xyloglucan is associated with pectin in plant cell walls. They also indicate that documented patterns of cell wall epitopes in relation to cell development and cell differentiation may need to be re-considered in relation to the potential masking of cell wall epitopes by other cell wall components.

Modern civilization depends on only a few plant species for its nourishment. These crops were derived via several thousands of years of human selection that transformed wild ancestors into high-yielding domesticated descendants. Among cultivated plants, common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the most important grain legume. Yet, our understanding of the origins and concurrent shaping of the genome of this crop plant is limited. We sequenced the genomes of 29 accessions representing 12 Phaseolus species. Single nucleotide polymorphism-based phylogenomic analyses, using both the nuclear and chloroplast genomes, allowed us to detect a speciation event, a finding further supported by metabolite profiling. In addition, we identified ~1200 protein coding genes (PCGs) and ~100 long non-coding RNAs with domestication-associated haplotypes. Finally, we describe asymmetric introgression events occurring among common bean subpopulations in Mesoamerica and across hemispheres. We uncover an unpredicted speciation event in the tropical Andes that gave rise to a sibling species, formerly considered the “wild ancestor” of P. vulgaris, which diverged before the split of the Mesoamerican and Andean P. vulgaris gene pools. Further, we identify haplotypes strongly associated with genes underlying the emergence of domestication traits. Our findings also reveal the capacity of a predominantly autogamous plant to outcross and fix loci from different populations, even from distant species, which led to the acquisition by domesticated beans of adaptive traits from wild relatives. The occurrence of such adaptive introgressions should be exploited to accelerate breeding programs in the near future.

Methods developed to isolate intact cells from both unripe and ripe tomato fruit pericarp parenchyma have allowed the cell biological analysis of polysaccharide epitopes at the surface of separated cells. The LM7 pectic homogalacturonan epitope is a marker of the junctions of adhesion planes and intercellular spaces in parenchyma systems. The LM7 epitope persistently marked the former edge of adhesion planes at the surface of cells separated from unripe and ripened tomato fruit and also from fruits with the Cnr mutation. The LM11 xylan epitope was associated, in sections, with cell walls lining intercellular space but the epitope was not detected at the surface of isolated cells, being lost during cell isolation. The LM15 xyloglucan epitope was present at the surface of cells isolated from unripe fruit in a pattern reflecting the former edge of cell adhesion planes/intercellular space but with gaps and apparent breaks. An equivalent pattern of LM15 epitope occurrence was revealed at the surface of cells isolated by pectate lyase action but was not present in cells isolated from ripe fruit or from Cnr fruit. In contrast to wild-type cells, the LM5 galactan and LM21 mannan epitopes occurred predominantly in positions reflecting intercellular space in Cnr, suggesting a concerted alteration in cell wall microstructure in response to this mutation. Galactanase and mannanase, along with pectic homogalacturonan-degrading enzymes, were capable of releasing cells from unripe fruit parenchyma. These observations indicate that hemicellulose polymers are present in architectural contexts reflecting cell adhesion and that several cell wall polysaccharide classes are likely to contribute to cell adhesion/cell separation in tomato fruit pericarp parenchyma.