Advanced X-ray Scattering of Plant Cell Walls
- Author
- Del Mundo, Joshua
- Published
- [University Park, Pennsylvania] : Pennsylvania State University, 2023.
- Physical Description
- 1 electronic document
- Additional Creators
- Gómez Jiménez, Enrique and Gomez, Esther
Access Online
- etda.libraries.psu.edu , Connect to this object online.
- Graduate Program
- Restrictions on Access
- Restricted (PSU Only).
- Summary
- Structural characterization of plant cell walls is the basis for the development of new plant-derived biomaterials and sustainable energy. In this dissertation, we utilize emerging synchrotron X-ray scattering technologies and new sample preparation methods to understand plant cell wall microstructure and polymer interactions. Grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) enhances signal-to-noise of hydrated primary cell wall, revealing changes in cellulose crystal and pectin organization upon dehydration. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), in conjunction with other techniques, of onion epidermal cell wall at increasing strain reveals reorganization and realignment of cellulose microfibrils towards the direction of the stretch as well as deformation of cellulose crystals. SAXS and WAXS of secondary cell wall mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana support that xylan interactions are critical for normal cellulose structure in secondary cell walls, while lignin interactions are less influential on cellulose organization. Finally, we demonstrate that resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSoXS) around the carbon edge can tune the scattering contrast between cellulose and lignin in secondary cell wall, which is low in SAXS. These findings shed light on some uncertainties plant cell wall microstructure, with the motivation of the optimization of plant biomass as a renewable feedstock in many industries.
- Other Subject(s)
- Genre(s)
- Dissertation Note
- Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University 2023.
- Technical Details
- The full text of the dissertation is available as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file ; Adobe Acrobat Reader required to view the file.
View MARC record | catkey: 43609649