A plant cell wall is arranged in layers and contains cellulose microfibrils, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin, and soluble protein. These components are organized into three major layers: the primary ...

Xylem vessel pits are tiny openings on the cell wall of water-conducting cells—with pit geometry influencing crop yield ...

Just like in yeast and animal cells, vacuoles in plants are responsible for breaking down unwanted cellular components. At ...

Major steps forward in the use of plants for renewable materials, energy and for building construction could soon arise, thanks to a key advance in understanding the structure of wood. The step ...

Some cells, such as immune cells, are highly mobile—they constantly remodel their shape, migrate toward a wound that needs to ...

The structure of the enzyme that makes cellulose has been uncovered by researchers, a finding that could lead to easier ways of breaking down plant materials to make biofuels and other products and ...

Tiny pores within plant cells may hold promise for green fuels. Researchers have discovered that particles from cornstalks undergo previously unknown structural changes when processed to produce ...

Nitric oxide (NO) is one of only a handful of gaseous signalling molecules. Its discovery as the endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) by Ignarro revolutionized how NO and cognate reactive ...