植物纤维素生物合成及其相关酶类

纤维素是由成千上万个D-葡萄糖分子通过β-1，4糖苷键连接的具有一定立体构象的链状聚合物，其葡萄糖残基约为2000～25000个。它是细胞壁的主要组成成分之一。植物，大多数藻类，一些细菌和真菌甚至有些动物都能合成纤维素。它作为世界上最丰富的，具有巨大商业价值的生物多聚体，几十年来一直受到人们的重视，成为人们的研究热点。尽管如此，这方面的研究仍比较滞后，人们对纤维素生物合成途径及其相关酶类还是知之甚少。近几年来，随着基因组学的发展，关于纤维素的生物合成及相关基因表达调控的研究也成绩斐然，现就高等植物纤维素生物合成途径及其相关的纤维素合成酶的最新研究进展作一介绍。

Cellulose Biosynthesis in Plant and the Enzymes Involved in It

Cellulose is a major component in plant cell wall. It has become the worldwide hotspot in biological research field in the past decades due to its great abundance in the nature and its remarkable commercial value in the world. With the development of genomics, recent studies have highlighted the cellulose synthase complex and the role of the genes (such as CesAs and Csls, etc.) involved in cellulose biosynthesis pathway in plant, towards understanding the molecular mechanism of this biosynthesis process. This review summarizes the recent achievements in studying cellulose biosynthesis, especially the functions of the identified CesA genes involved in this biosynthesis process, in plant.