The Synthesis of Cellulose by Enzyme Systems from Higher Plants.

In 1957 Glaser (1) obtained a particulate fraction from Acetobatter xylinum which catalyzed the incorporation of the glucosyl moiety of uridine diphosphate n-glucose into cellulose. It seemed probable that this most important structural polysaccharide of higher plants was synthesized by a similar mechanism, but attempts to bring about its formation from uridine diphosphate u-glucose by enzyme systems derived from plants were unsuccessful. It has now been found that cell-free preparations from plants do indeed incorporate glucose into cellulose, but that, at least in those species examined, the enzyme system shows a marked specificity for guanosine diphosphate n-glucose. No metabolic role has previously been proposed for this sugar nucleotide although enzymes which catalyze its synthesis have been obtained from mammary gland (2) and plants (3), and the compound itself was isolated from mammary gland (2, 4), milk, the bacterium Erwinia ashbyii (4), and the mold Eremothecium ashbyii (5). A preliminary report of this work has been previously published (6).