Nonaqueous Titration of Amino Groups in Polymeric Matrix of Plant Cell Walls

---

N. R. Meychik^*, Yu. I. Nikolaeva, and I. P. Ermakov

Biological Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119899 Moscow, Russia; fax: (495) 939-4309; E-mail: meychik@mail.ru

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received June 2, 2008; Revision received October 17, 2008

---

Nonaqueous titration was used for detection of free amino groups in the polymeric matrix of plant cell walls. The content of amino groups varied in the range 0.54-0.91 and total nitrogen in the range 1.0-4.2 mmol per gram dry mass of cell walls depending on the plant species. However, these data on the high content of free amino groups do not correlate with the present day concept that the nitrogen fraction in charged amino groups in plant cell wall proteins, which are assumed to be mainly amino groups of lysine and arginine residues, is about 10%. It is supposed that most detected free amino groups belong to the hydroxy-amino acids hydroxyproline and tyrosine that can be bound at the hydroxyl group with the carbohydrate part of glycoprotein or another structural cell wall polymer.

---

KEY WORDS: amino groups, cell wall, plant roots

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297909080161

---