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Research Topics Resent studies Publications
Structural biology of plant macromolecules I
Cellulose synthase and formation of microfibril
Cellulose molecules are synthesized by membrane-anchored terminal complexes (TCs) under simultaneous polymerization and crystallization process. This regulated process yields a microfibril wherein all the chains are packed in a parallel manner. In addition, behavior shape, mode of aggregation, crystalline allomophs and uniplanar orientation have been related to the mode of biogenesis. However, the exact mechanism how organism regulates structure of cellulose is still debated.
Establishment of in vitro cellulose synthesizing setup is requisite to understand the structure and mechanism of cellulose synthases.


Horikawa Y, Itoh T, Sugiyama J: Preferential uniplanar orientation of cellulose microfibrils re-investigated by FTIR technique. Cellulose, 13, 309-316, 2006
Sugiyama J: Structure and diversity of cellulose ( in Cellulose Science, Isogai A, ed), Asakura, Japan, 27-36, 2003
Hashimoto, A., Shimono, K., Horikawa, Y., Ichikawa, T., Wada, M., Imai, T., Sugiyama, J. "Extraction of cellulose-synthesizing activity of Gluconacetobacter xylinus by alkylmaltoside", Carbohydrate Research, 346, no.17, 2760-2768, 2011.

Imai, T., "Challenging Cellulose Biosynthesis with a Bacterial Model", Cellulose Communications, 18, 156-162, 2011. (in Japanese)

Imai, T. Sun, S.-J., Horikawa, Y., Wada, M., Sugiyama, J., "Functional Reconstitution of Cellulose Synthase in Escherichia coli", Biomacromolecules, 15, no.11, 4206–4213, 2014.